ConnecTerra Previews RFTagAware at EPC Symposium; RFTagAware extends enterprise awareness to RFID-enabled objects of all kinds.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 15, 2003

ConnecTerra(TM), a leading supplier of enterprise software for device computing, today provided a technology preview of its upcoming product, RFTagAware(TM), at the Auto-ID EPC Symposium in Chicago. Powered by ConnecTerra's Device Computing Platform (DCP) (see separate release), RFTagAware harnesses the large volumes of data originating from RF tag readers to provide meaningful input to enterprise information systems, while also providing the management and monitoring services required to keep an enterprise-scale network of RF tag readers and servers up and running reliably. By providing these services in one, easy-to-use product, companies are able to get their RFID pilots up and producing results quickly, while knowing that the infrastructure can scale as the number of tagged items, readers and remote sites grow. ConnecTerra has been a member of the Auto-ID Center since 2002, and has been active in the creation of Auto-ID software standards. RFTagAware is fully compliant with the Auto-ID "Savant" standard, and also implements new APIs currently under consideration for standardization.

"RF tags can give every object that a business makes, buys or handles a unique presence on the network," says Linda Bernardi, President and CEO of ConnecTerra. "The challenge for enterprises will be to extend the awareness of their business process and applications to these tagged objects. The Aware Enterprise will have full visibility into an expanding environment of products, objects and devices, and can capitalize on real time information that materially affects operations RFTagAware gives enterprises secure, trustworthy awareness of things that they've never had visibility into before."

RFTagAware tackles both the data and control challenges that are inherent in RF tag deployments. On the data side, extensive filtering and aggregation is required to transform the huge volumes of low-level RF tag data into meaningful business information. RFTagAware meets this challenge with a Savant-compliant processing engine residing near distributed readers, coupled to a flexible framework for enterprise-side subscription and processing of the results. On the control side, RF tag readers and Savants represent new, highly distributed resources which enterprises must trust to provide accurate, timely data. To address these challenges RFTagAware includes a comprehensive facility for centralized reader and Savant management, provisioning and monitoring.

"With RFTagAware we've met the challenges that face the small-scale RFID pilot, as well as the large, scalable deployment having hundreds of readers and dozens of Savants across many sites," says Ken Traub, Chief Technical Officer of ConnecTerra. "With these features and our active involvement in the software standards process at Auto-ID, our customers can be assured that their RF tag infrastructure will meet their high expectations for reliability and performance, while staying on the leading edge of RF tag software and the EPC Network architecture."

RFTagAware will be previewed in Sun Microsystems' booth at the EPC Symposium. The manageability features of RFTagAware have been selected by Sun as part of their RFID solution. "As members of the Auto-ID Center, Sun and ConnecTerra have been working with the center to help define and drive the technology standards," said Julie Sarbacker, Director of the Auto-ID Business Unit at Sun Microsystems, Inc. "We are now building on those activities to create a partnership covering our product and solutions strategies. ConnecTerra's and Sun's complementary products and technologies together provide the enhanced functionality that customers are looking for to enable their enterprise Auto-ID deployments."

Product Features

RFTagAware is a distributed application consisting of RFTagAware Edge Servers located near RF tag readers, RFTagAware Application Servers that integrate the data from Edge Servers into enterprise applications, and centralized Control Servers responsible for the monitoring, management and security of distributed Edge Servers and RF tag readers.

All three RFTagAware servers are based on the ConnecTerra Device Computing Platform (DCP), which provides the underlying communications, security, policy and management services required in device computing deployments such as RFID. For example, by using the DCP, all three types of RFTagAware server may be deployed in one location, or in physically separate locations connected by a variety of wide-area network technologies.

The heart of the RFTagAware Edge Server is a high-performance, easy-to-use implementation of the Auto-ID Savant standard. The Savant implementation in RFTagAware provides applications with a standardized interface for defining business rules and obtaining RFID data, without the need to deploy application-specific code at remote sites. By eliminating the need for custom, application-specific code to be written in the Savant, RFTagAware greatly simplifies the process of creating new RF tag applications.

The RFTagAware Edge Server also includes significant logic for reader provisioning, management and monitoring, as well as code to manage the Savant engine itself. This integrated approach allows the appliance to connect reader activity with important business-level events. For example, when a reader is replaced, it may be important to map the new reader to a specific physical location, indicating that the reads represent the same data as the replaced reader.

The RFTagAware Edge Servers are supported by the RFTagAware Application and Control Servers which provide integration of RF tag infrastructure into the enterprise, both from a data perspective and a control perspective. The RFTagAware Application Server collects reports from the Edge Servers and integrates the data into enterprise Java and web services environments. The Application Server provides centralized configuration of Savants and readers to generate the correct reports. The RFTagAware Control Server provides a centralized management console for monitoring and control of readers and appliances, as well as integration of management information into existing enterprise management applications.

Pricing and Availability

RFTagAware will be available to select customers in September, with general availability scheduled for December. Versions of RFTagAware are available for Solaris(TM), Linux and Windows(R) servers. Pricing of RFTagAware is dependent on the number of servers and readers.

Please contact ConnecTerra at 617.441.2200 for more information.

About ConnecTerra, Inc.

Founded in 2001, ConnecTerra is a leading provider of enterprise software for device computing. Privately funded through individual and corporate investors including Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: SUNW), ConnecTerra's products help to extend enterprise awareness to networked devices of all kinds, allowing companies to tap into the wealth of data captured by these devices. ConnecTerra's Device Computing Platform (DCP) provides the core communications, security, policy and management services required to integrate devices into a wide range of applications. Building on the DCP, ConnecTerra's RFTagAware targets the specific challenges of enterprise RF tag deployments, and ProductAware(TM) provides the software for manufacturers and service organizations to integrate real-time data from remote products into their service processes.

ConnecTerra is a member of the Storage Network Industry Association (SNIA), the Association of Retail Technology Standards (ARTS) of the National Retail Federation, and the Auto-ID Center. ConnecTerra is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts and can be reached on the web at www.connecterra.com

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