Leading UHF Gen 2 RFID technology supplier Impinj, Inc. introduced Octane 3.0, a firmware upgrade to the company's Speedway UHF Gen 2 readers, that supports LLRP (low-level reader protocol), improves performance and expands software vendor support.

The Speedway reader's Octane 3.0 firmware features include:

• Support for LLRP, the EPCglobal standard interface to common reader functionality, including reader configuration, tag inventory, and tag access operations that encompass the full functionality of the EPCglobal UHF Gen 2 Air Interface Protocol specification
  
  
• Ability to sense tag direction through a read portal using standard UHF Gen 2 tags
  
  
• Ability to sense reader environment and automatically adjust settings to optimize performance
  
  
• Enterprise-class management and monitoring with EPCglobal Reader Management 1.0.1 (SNMP)
  
  
• Seamless LLRP integration with leading software companies, RFID network infrastructure and total solution providers such as GlobeRanger, IBM, KeyTone Technologies, Microsoft, OATSystems, Omnitrol Networks, and Reva Systems
  
  Successfully deployed in large retail and distribution environments worldwide, the Speedway reader provides a single RFID platform for applications at the pallet, case, and item level, and delivers best-in-class read reliability and throughput. Recently announced deployments include:
  
  
• Item- and case-level garment tagging at METRO Group's Galeria Kaufhof department store in Germany
  
  
• Item-level book tagging at Boekhandels Groep Nederland (BGN) in the Netherlands
  
  
• Pallet-level tagging at Rolec, a distributor of primary school educational materials in the Netherlands
  
  
• Item- and case-level pharmaceutical tagging at Purdue Pharma in the United States
  
  "The Octane 3.0 firmware addition to the Speedway reader exemplifies Impinj's leadership role in enabling a standards-based approach to RFID deployments and our continued commitment to performance improvements," said Dimitri Desmons, vice president of RFID marketing at Impinj. "The success of RFID depends on the ability to deliver reliable data. By providing context to that data (for example, with tag direction information), we are expanding the set of challenging business problems that the Speedway reader is able to address."
  
  The Speedway reader carries both EPCglobal's Gen 2 Conformance and Interoperability Certification Marks, which ensure predictable tag and reader operation in any deployment.
  
  The Speedway reader with Octane 3.0 firmware will be broadly available in late 2007 from Impinj's network of qualified distributors, value-added resellers (VARs), and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) who license Impinj's Speedway reader for use under the "Powered by Impinj" label. Information about Impinj's network of RFID solution providers is available at www.impinj.com/RFID/where-to-buy.aspx.