World's Largest Wi-Fi-based Active RFID Tag Deployment Goes Live

San Mateo, CA — April 2, 2007 — U.K. express parcel delivery firm City Link has gone live with the world's largest deployment of Wi-Fi-based active radio frequency identification(RFID) tags, using technology from AeroScout as part of a project to improve efficiency and customer service.

In the first stage of deployment, AeroScout and its U.K. partner, JDH Consultancy Limited, installed 15,000 specially designed Wi-Fi tags with an extended battery life. These rugged, Wi-Fi-standard tags — jointly designed by AeroScout and JDH — will be used at City Link's depots around the U.K. market to manage the company's dynamic inventory of "roll-cages," which house and protect its high-value parcels during transit.

At any moment in time, up to 300,000 parcels in 15,000 cages at 70 U.K. locations can be monitored and located in real time from City Link's national distribution center in Wednesbury, West Midlands, over the City Link Cisco Wi-Fi network. By maintaining accurate and real-time visibility of roll-cages, City Link has improved the efficiency and speed of its delivery services, according to AeroScout.

"City Link is one of the U.K.'s premium high-value express delivery providers, specializing in time-critical services," said Alec Cormack, IT director for City Link. "We have a history of technology innovation, being one of the first U.K. carriers to utilize two dimensional barcodes on all our parcels. We are very pleased to be the first company in the express delivery market to roll out Wi-Fi-based active RFID tag tracking across our business."

Improving Delivery Performance

Cormack said that the implementation has already proven successful in optimizing the company's overnight trucking schedule and is helping it to continue improving its delivery performance. "We look forward to extending the technology later in 2007 and working in partnership with our clients to provide truly innovative real-time tracking solutions, tailored to our clients' requirements," he added.

"City Link is the largest Wi-Fi deployment of its kind in the world and demonstrates both the very real need for such solutions within the logistics sector and the scalability of the AeroScout solution," said Andris Berzins, managing director for EMEA at AeroScout. "With this deployment, City Link has taken an innovative approach to improving business efficiency and cementing its position at the heart of an extremely competitive market."

The project was delivered through systems integrator JDH Consultancy Limited, which evaluated several companies in the active RFID marketplace. AeroScout was selected due to the strength of its complete solution, including the high functionality and reliability of its tags, its location software and its ability to use Wi-Fi across a remote set of facilities, according to the solution provider.