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.