The news is a shot in the arm for RFID, since these types of products are expected to trigger large-scale RFID investment and spur the development of RFID software applications.

TI said its Electronic Product Code Generation 2 inlays and straps, which are used to make RFID tags, would be ready next month for volume shipments.

This means that TI’s RFID label converter and printer customers now can build products that would meet the soon-to-be-ratified global standard for RFID, dubbed EPC Gen 2.

This is a big deal because it signifies that the large silicon and tag component vendors are moving ahead with their Gen 2 development plans, said Erik Michielsen, director of RFID at ABI Research.

For enterprises, it means they can now embark on multi-site RFID projects knowing that the RFID equipment they buy will not be obsolete within a year and that they can buy this equipment in vast quantities.

Many enterprises have held back from investing in large-scale, networked RFID deployments in lieu of the first global RFID standard to be ratified. They also have been waiting for large component vendors – such as TI – to release in high volumes products that support this standard, Michielsen said.

Late last year, TI pledged it would have Gen 2-ready products shipping in volume by the third quarter.

The International Standards Organization currently is reviewing Gen 2 as the international RFID technology standard and is widely expected to give it the green light by early next year.

ISO certification is incredibly important given that the supply chains of most major companies are global, Michielsen said. EPC Gen 2 is going to be the standard for ultra high volume, international supply-chain RFID deployments used across the globe.

Gen 2 has a number of advantages over first-generation EPC Class 0 and Class 1 standards, including a disabling feature, security password and superior performance that allows more RFID tags to be read per second.

Credible Gen 2 commitment is critical to continued investment in RFID-driven supply chain initiatives. It’s now moved past a piece of paper and into something that could be used in production mode in a matter of months, rather than years, said Enu Waktola, TI’s EPC retail supply-chain marketing manager.

TI’s new Gen 2 RFID inlays contain, essentially, an RFID chip and antenna, which is inserted by label-converting companies into an RFID tag’s face sheet and liner. TI sells inlays directly to 30 label converters, as well as other printing and hardware companies.

The company’s new straps, on the other hand, are an upcoming type of RFID technology. Straps enable packagers to print an RFID antenna on different types of materials or use other components of an inlay in new ways. We see the next-generation area of RFID is going to involve the application of straps, Waktola said.

With these Gen 2-ready products from TI being shipping in volume, it signifies that enterprise users can see a brighter light at the end of the tunnel, Michielsen said. With large-scale support and investment from global vendors, such as TI, RFID end users and system integrators can rest assured that high-volume product will be available, Michielsen said.

The availability of Gen 2 products also benefit smaller companies that have been blazing the innovation trail with new RFID hardware designs, assembly processes and applications.

Until now, most larger scale supply chain RFID rollouts have been fragmented trials and learning exercises. With reliable, higher volume hardware availability across multiple vendors, the end-user focus can now shift to networked RFID solution architecture and deployment, Michielsen said.

TI’s Waktola said the company does not expect to release additional Gen 2 products this year. For this year, we’re looking at ramping our volumes of Gen 2 product.