IATA/ODIN to set standards for RFID Baggage Tagging

Ashburn, VA.  - March 31, 2009:  ODIN, the leader in packaged RFID solutions and independent RFID benchmarks and scientific testing has been chosen by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) as an Affiliated Organization.  ODIN will provide vendor-neutral testing and guidance supporting RFID airline baggage tagging standardization across the industry. The first phase of the IATA/ODIN partnership will feature a comprehensive scientific RFID baggage tagging benchmark designed to set a standard for the industry to speed adoption, help airlines reduce cost and improve traveler experience.

"RFID baggage tagging represents one of the most compelling opportunities for airlines to realize cost savings during a time of rising operational expenses and for airports and municipalities to increase revenue and attract more flights," commented Patrick J Sweeney II from ODIN. "RFID has already proven to reduce costs and handling errors and recent improvements in tag technology should improve those results further.   Through IATA's leadership the implementation of global standards will help unlock value in this important operational challenge.  The entire ODIN team looks forward to assisting IATA in its groundbreaking 'Baggage Improvement Program' for the airline industry. We're particularly excited about the green aspect of eventually eliminating literally millions of feet of printed bag tags every year."

IATA's baggage tag program objectives require a focus on two quality components: consistency and performance across the global UHF RFID spectrum.  These are critical because airlines must be able to rely on the tags to perform as expected since operations will be optimized around expected performance levels.  ODIN's benchmark will focus on identifying the best performing commercially available baggage tags and defining key quality standards and metrics for future RFID enabled baggage tags. It will also set the foundation for pre-packaged solutions based on those performance standards.

"Mishandled baggage costs the industry $3.8 billion every year," said IATA spokesman Lorne Riley.  He added, "RFID alone can reduce mishandlings by 20% and it is a critical element of our Baggage Improvement Program. We are counting on ODIN to support this initiative with methods, software and best practices that can enhance the consistency and performance of RFID baggage tags across the globe."

Also see http://www.odintechnologies.com/solutions/aerospace-rfid  .

About ODIN

ODIN is the leader in the physics of RFID infrastructure for pre-packaged solutions, deployment services and scientific testing. RFID is all we do. Global corporations on five continents leverage ODIN ‘s expert engineers and patented RFID automation tools to achieve accuracy, speed and visibility for their RFID deployments. In addition to consulting services, ODIN technologies is also the publisher of the RFID Benchmark Series^(tm) the industry's first and most referenced head to head performance analysis of RFID equipment. ODIN's RFID edge optimization software EasyRFID^(tm) has been successfully used at dozens of companies across more than 200 sites worldwide to ensure accurate and scalable RFID implementations. ODIN serves clients from offices in Virginia, USA, Tokyo, Japan and Budapest, Hungary.

www.ODINtechnologies.com <http://www.odintechnologies.com/>

About IATA

Over 60 years, IATA has developed the commercial standards that built a global industry. Today, IATA's mission is to represent, lead and serve the airline industry. Its members comprise some 230 airlines <http://www.iata.org/membership/airline_members_list.htm> - the world's leading passenger and cargo airlines among them - representing 93 percent of scheduled international air traffic. www.iata.org

<http://www.iata.org>