RFID middleware serves as the processor of all manner of RFID information as well as a conduit to business systems. And it may cease to be a stand-alone product in the coming years, according to Simon Holloway, practice leader for process management & RFID at Bloor Research in the United Kingdom.
RFID software providers build their applications on top of specific middleware software, which, according to a recent study that Holloway authored, "performs the necessary tasks of converting the information picked up by readers; event processing, applying business rules, performing a series of functions from aggregations and filtering to looking up data that converts this data into meaningful business information."
With players such as Microsoft bringing its BizTalk Server offering into the mix, Holloway says, "the middleware market is going to become commoditized."
"It's already happening," affirms Andre Pino, chief marketing officer of Acsis Corp., which specializes in tying data management from RFID and other devices to SAP software. Pino cites Microsoft, Oracle's BEA, IBM, and even SAP as the middleware purveyors likely to survive the contraction.
Holloway cites Checkpoint Systems' June 2008 acquisition of middleware provider OATSystems as a prime example of what's to come. Other examples of stand-alone middleware vendors include Reva, GlobeRanger, and RF-it Solutions. The enterprise application integration vendors, including IBM, Oracle, Microsoft, and Seeburger, "were very quick to adapt and enhance their offering to support the requirements of RFID middleware," the report noted.
"I can see that there will be another retrenchment" in middleware, Holloway says, with key vendors such as IBM, Oracle, Microsoft, and few others left.