RFTRAQ, a British technology company, has announced the general availability of its long range, read/write and IP addressable Active RFID tags as part of its complete range of end-to-end RFID software and hardware solutions for industrial environments. This Announcement coincides with the opening of RFTRAQ’s new production facilities in Guildford with the capacity to produce 3 million tags a year.

While in the industry at large there is more discussion about the potential application of Active RFID than actual action, RFTRAQ claimed to have bucked this trend and already boasts a customer base of blue-chip clients. With a total range of complimentary technology hardware, engineering and software products, RFTRAQ claims to be able, ‘in-house’, to deliver end to end Active RFID solutions, covering both production and supply chain management.

Its ‘innovations’ include application within the paper industry production and supply chain of reusable and recyclable Active RFID-enabled aluminium ‘cores’ which sit at the centre of multi-tonne rolls of paper. With over 30 patents granted or in filing, RFTRAQ is now making its entire product range generally available and seeking to introduce its solutions into other industries .

Through its institutional investor shareholders, RFTRAQ recently commissioned Elucidare to conduct an independent survey* of 49 RFID companies’ products across a range of design and performance criteria. The research report claims to reveal a number of features of RFTRAQ’s solutions which distinguish it from the competition.

These include: 

• The longest symmetric read/write range of RFTRAQ’s Active RFID tags. With a 400m range, the operating distance of its tags is four times further than comparable UHF tags;
• RFTRAQ’s Active RFID tags can remotely or automatically change RF frequencies across all three regional (Asia, US and Europe) UHF bands (902MHz, 915MHz, 868MHz), bypassing concerns about standards and interoperability;
• RFTRAQ’s Active RFID tags have the availability of multiple channels within each of these frequencies, delivering high levels of capacity (number of tags that can be read per second) and a variety of other features as a result;
• The IP addressability of RFTRAQ’s hardware enables remote access to individual Active RFID tags and readers, enabling them to be managed and reconfigured remotely once they are deployed in the field;
• Compliance and certification with the recently changed European Technical Standards Institute (‘ETSI’) guidelines. 

Douglas Hogg, CEO of RFTRAQ said: “RFID has been much-debated in recent years while its commercial deployment has been relatively slow. Due to the demanding and relentless nature of the printing and paper industries, their supply chain is already ahead of the curve in Active RFID adoption. It is now time for broader enterprises to move beyond the 20th Century barcode legacy and experience the tangible and immediate benefits which Active RFID provides. We have taken a unique approach to developing our technology designing it in such a way that it is in effect an extension of our software and so can be dropped into any TCP/IP network. The brightest engineering and technology minds coupled with client-driven requirements have ensured that we only deliver solutions which provide the performance and versatility demanded in the commercial world.”

RFTRAQ recently closed the final round of private equity funding, with $10 million raised in total. Formerly known as Core Control, RFTRAQ has been quietly developing its technology and software products and building up a loyal customer base for the past two years. RFTRAQ recently relocated its OEM technology production plant to large and permanent HQ in Guildford to reflect the company’s recent growth and future plans.

*Active RFID Systems: A comparative technical evaluation of RFTRAQ products & solutions

An independent report by Dr David Nugent, Elucidare

About RFTRAQ

RFTRAQ is a UK based software company specialising in delivering practical end to end solutions in industrial environments aimed at improving business KPI’s, or Key Performance Indicators, to deliver very significant savings for its clients. The company has a wide variety of proprietary software platforms for asset, equipment and machine monitoring and management; it designs and manufacturers it own Active RFID tags and related technology hardware; it has designed a number of unique engineering products for both logistics and production applications, and has over 30 patents applied for, with four granted to date, in relation to many of its products and solutions.

With over 50 staff, RFTRAQ uniquely has a combination of proprietary engineering, software and high technology hardware products to deliver industrial tracking and other efficiency and ‘green’ solutions for its clients.