CIDX(R) Publishes White Paper on Potential Impact of RFID Technology in the Chemical Industry.

CHICAGO -- The Chemical Industry Data Exchange (CIDX), a 20-year-old trade association that serves as the chemical industry's forum for emerging eCommerce technologies, today announced the availability of the RFID Framing White Paper, a 46-page document detailing the impact of Radio Frequency ID (RFID) technology on the chemical industry.

The Executive Summary is available online (www.cidx.org), and CIDX members may access it free of charge. Non-members may purchase the full paper for $2,500, or can elect to join CIDX for a free copy.

Written by a CIDX team of technology experts, including representatives from chemical producers and technology solution providers, the White Paper is the industry's first holistic look at the technology that is taking the consumer products and retail sectors by storm.

Used extensively in product movement and logistics applications, RFID is a flexible tool for tracking materials, maintaining security and complying with increasing cradle-to-grave regulations. Authors of the White Paper anticipate the use of RFID in the chemical sector will be high, and they argue that the real question is not if it will be used, but rather how and when.

"The potential of RFID is broad and wide," said JoAnne Norton, CIDX Executive Director. "Using inexpensive radio transmitters, affixed to product containers, trading partners will be able to beam vital data to strategically placed receivers up and down the supply chain. It's a next generation tool for information sharing between trading partners."

According to Norton, CIDX is the ideal forum for examining the value of RFID in the chemical industry because CIDX brings members together to share the costs and resources to explore the viability of new technologies and their impact on the sector.

In the RFID Framing White Paper, the CIDX team examined a wide range of RFID challenges and opportunities in operations, security and standardization. Each topic is outlined and key findings explored. Because there is no single frequency for RFID currently, the White Paper highlights advantages and disadvantages of various frequency options. The White Paper also previews tag security issues, environmental factors and reader capability issues, as well as physical challenges, including the types of assets being tagged, container composition and product composition.

The CIDX RFID team researched for a year RFID uses in other industries, exchanging knowledge with vendors and standards bodies currently working on RFID, and assessing their own companies' potential for incorporating the technology.

In 2006, the team intends to accomplish the following additional deliverables:

1. Being responsible for representing the chemical industry's requirements to EPCGlobal, an organization that is leading the development of industry-driven standards for the Electronic Product Code(TM) (EPC) to support the use of RFID in trading networks.

2. Drafting an RFID requirements document for the industry based on EPC practices, and

3. Drafting a white paper featuring recommendations for how CIDX might integrate with EPCGlobal and EPC Information Service.

To join the RFID team, visit the CIDX website for more information.

About CIDX

CIDX is a 20-year-old global industry organization dedicated to improving and securing electronic connectivity for chemical companies and their trading partners. More than 80 chemical industry leaders from around the world including chemical producers, suppliers, marketplaces and industry consultants participate in CIDX to help identify and develop emerging eCommerce technologies, and to support the Chem eStandards for carrying out highly secure transactions with suppliers and customers over the Internet. CIDX uses the trademarks CIDX(R) and Chem eStandards(R).

CIDX' next General Meeting will be held in Dallas on November 13 -16, 2006. For more information, visit www.CIDX.org.