Many of Wal-Mart’s top 100 suppliers also happen to be long-standing SATO customers. Following Wal-Mart’s mandate that its top 100 suppliers must provide RFID tagging by 2005 on all goods delivered, it is expected that many will look to SATO for their RFID printing needs.

The firm had previously announced the availability of an RFID Kit for its CL408e and CL412e printers, along with a partnership agreement with CCL Label, Inc. to be the manufacturer of RFID tags and labels for SATO, and to resell SATO RFID-enabled printers.

The RFID Kit contains an interface card and transmitter module, which currently works with chips that operate at high frequency (in the 13.56MHz range). Compatible products include TagIt (from Texas Instruments) and I-Code (from Philips).

“We recognised the benefits of barcodes back in 1979 when SATO introduced its thermal transfer barcode printer, and we’re positioning our resources and expertise in the RFID arena too,” commented Bob Karr, vice president of marketing for SATO America.

More Info: http://www.satoamerica.com

Source: SATO America, Inc.

Copyright 2003 UsingRFID.com

Reprinted with permission from Using RFID (http://www.usingrfid.com/news)

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