More than a dozen RFID readers, tags and integrated circuits have been certified as Gen 2 compliant by EPCglobal and are commercially available today. This standard, now incorporated by ISO, was initially developed by more than 60 of the world's leading technology companies and describes the core capabilities required to meet the performance needs set by the end user community.

EPCglobal Gen 2 is a fundamental element for creating standard interfaces and protocols to drive the development of new RFID hardware products to provide accurate, cost-efficient visibility of information throughout supply chains.

ISO has incorporated the EPCglobal UHF Generation 2 air interface protocol into its ISO/IEC 18000-6 Amendment 1 as Type C on UHF RFID.

"This is a significant milestone because it provides recognition of the work that the EPCglobal community is doing to build user-driven technical standards to advance the adoption of EPC/RFID technologies in supply chains throughout the world," said Chris Adcock, president of EPCglobal Inc.

"The publication of this Amendment to ISO/IEC 18000-6 gives the EPCglobal UHF Gen 2 specification global approval and makes it available to an even wider range of applications. This is the first of hopefully many opportunities for EPCglobal and ISO to cooperate," said Steve Halliday, chairman of the ISO sub-group responsible for the standard.