IT consulting companies handling the integration of radio-frequency technology into customers' supply chains may collect more in revenue by 2007 than vendors supplying products that track the movement of goods, a market research firm has claimed.
Full-scale rollouts of radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology are expected to follow initial deployments by suppliers looking to meet 2005 deadlines set by US retailers Wal-Mart Stores and Metro AG and the US Defense Department, ABI Research said.
The organisations have required their largest suppliers to support their RFID initiatives, which are expected to increase efficiencies and cut costs.
Integration has been a secondary concern in RFID project planning but that is expected to change as the size of the projects grow.
Warehouse management software and supply chain execution companies, such as Catalyst International, Manhattan Associates, Provia and RedPrairie, are extending their products to incorporate RFID product tags, readers and software, ABI said in releasing a new RFID report.
The same is true for enterprise software and systems giants IBM, Oracle, SAP and Sun Microsystems.
IT consulting companies in a position to help businesses with the wide-scale changes needed in infrastructure and business processes include Accenture, BearingPoint, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, IBM, and Unisys.
These companies, however, 'have a long way to go to meet staffing needs that will support an RFID supply chain integration market that will surpass $1 billion by 2006', ABI analyst Erik Michielsen said in a statement.
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