NEC to launch RFID business this year

IDG News Service - NEC Corp. said today that it is planning to enter the radio frequency identification (RFID) business this year and is in the final stages of developing its own RFID chip.
The company, one of Japan's biggest computer makers, plans to start offering both the chip and associated software and systems in Japan and overseas sometime between April and September.
NEC's chip, called NetLabel, measures 0.8mm square and includes a built-in antenna, said Yasuhito Jochi, a spokesperson for NEC in Tokyo. That's four times the size of Hitachi Ltd.'s "myu" chip, which will be one of its strongest competitors in the domestic market. NEC's chip scores better than Hitachi's in terms of memory, with NetLabel's ability to store up to 1Kb of information beating the myu chip's 128-bit memory by a factor of eight.
Like Hitachi's chip, the first sample from NEC will operate in the Japanese RFID band, which is around 2.5 GHz, said Jochi.
The profile of RFID technology has recently been growing in Japan as several companies and organizations announce trials of smart-tag systems. In one current trial in Yokohama, supermarket shoppers can call up data on produce, such as where it was grown and when it was packed, by bringing it close to a reader terminal.
The Japanese government is also working with private companies on a number of other trials that include parcel tracking, airport baggage handling and merchandise management.
NEC expects to see group sales of RFID products reach $1.9 billion in 2010, said Jochi.