VeriSign, Alien Technologies, and E. Smith
Consulting Team Awarded United States Air Force RFID Pilot Contract
New Pilot Program Launched to Track and to Manage Medical Supply Assets
For Air Force Surgeon General’s Office
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA and DAYTON, OHIO – March 12, 2007– VeriSign, Inc. (Nasdaq: VRSN), the leading
provider of digital infrastructure for the networked world, Alien Technology
Corporation, and E Smith Consulting LCC, a woman-owned small business,
today announced that the team has been awarded a contract to manage
an innovative Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) pilot with the U.S.
Air Force Surgeon General’s office. Based at Wright Patterson
Medical Center (WPMC), this pilot program will test the ability to improve
process efficiencies and patient care services by utilizing passive
RFID technology to better manage and to track important patient movement
items (PMI) and medical devices within an Air Force medical facility.
“This program is an important building block that
the DOD can leverage as it continues to pursue Total Asset Visibility
(TAV) strategies,” said Doug Natal, VeriSign vice president. “The continued
expansion of RFID projects by the Department of Defense is consistent
with what we’re seeing across a number of industries as we help leaders
deploy the technology and reap the benefits of much more efficient asset
management.”
Based on the results of the U.S. Air Force pilot,
the DoD expects to evaluate potential benefits that would positively
impact inventory, asset, and supply chain management. These benefits
may include:
- Improvements in caregiver access to clean, calibrated critical patient
movement items and medical devices;
- Improved efficiencies in locating and maintaining this equipment;
- Reduced inventory requirements due to improved visibility into medical
equipment location and status.
This pilot presents a unique opportunity to prove
the value of an emerging technology within a hospital environment and
to form the foundation for future deployment models across the DoD Medical
support network. Once deployment expands to additional locations,
visibility of the DoD’s medical device inventory will generate value
for centralized decision making.
”We are delighted at the opportunity to collaborate
with the Air Force and industry leaders to validate the inherent benefits
of passive RFID within the hospital setting,” said Susan Pearson, vice
president of alliances for Alien Technology. “The RFID Solutions
Center in Dayton, Ohio is ideally suited to stage, to test, and to optimize
this system prior to the live hospital test, ensuring seamless integration
to hospital operations.”
This is the second Department of Defense
(DoD) RFID contract award that VeriSign has been a part of. VeriSign
was also awarded a blanket purchase agreement (BPA) by the U.S. Department
of Defense (DOD) under the Group 4-Electronic Product Code (EPC) Technical
Engineering Services portion of DOD's Passive RFID EPC-1 program.
The company’s experience also includes more than 50 RFID-enablement
projects, many of these done on behalf of consumer goods manufacturers
responding to Wal-Mart’s RFID mandate.
According to market research firm, INPUT, the Department
of Defense is the largest adopter of RFID [in the public sector] to
date. The firm has forecasted that the DOD total RFID budget is
expected to grow from $115 million in FY 2006 to $215 million in FY
20111.
VeriSign provides comprehensive RFID Consulting services
to the public sector, consumer goods, retail and healthcare industries,
helping leaders in these markets leverage RFID data to drive more effective
promotion management, new product introduction and improved inventory
management. In addition, through the recent acquisition of inCode
Telecom Group, Inc., VeriSign has expanded its set of RFID offerings
to include several solutions targeted at the Manufacturing and Distribution
sectors. With regulatory compliance issues and asset management
becoming of increasing importance in multiple industries, more and more
organizations are looking to VeriSign’s Enterprise Solutions group to
offer a single point of expertise for RFID technologies, products, and
services.
About VeriSign
VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN), operates digital infrastructure
services that enable and protect billions of interactions every day
across the world’s voice and data networks. Additional news and information
about the company is available at www.verisign.com.
More information about VeriSign’s solutions for government
markets is available at http://www.verisign.com/publicsector.
About the RFID Solutions Center
The RFID Solutions Center Dayton, a division of Alien Technology Corporation,
is dedicated to driving RFID technology innovation and adoption of RFID
solutions worldwide through collaboration with RFID end-users, key participants
in the RFID industry, and academic institutions focused on RFID research
and application. Infrastructure and equipment at the center enable
technical services and applications engineering teams to simulate key
stages in “real world” supply chains, and work closely with RFID customers
to evaluate, design, specify, and deploy RFID systems. The center’s
simulated environment, which includes shipping dock doors, material
handling equipment and conveyors, shipping stations, a store backroom
and a retail store floor, offers a comprehensive engineering laboratory
and educational RFID environment. More information regarding the
RFID Solutions Center is available at www.rfidsolutionscenter.com.
About Alien Technology
Alien TechnologyTM provides UHF Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)
products and services to customers in retail, consumer goods, manufacturing,
defense, transportation and logistics, pharmaceuticals and other industries.
Organizations use Alien's RFID products and services to improve the
effectiveness, efficiency and security of their supply chains, logistics
and asset tracking operations. Alien's products include RFID tags, RFID
readers and related training and professional services. Alien's patented
Fluidic Self Assembly (FSATM) technology and related proprietary manufacturing
processes are designed to enable the manufacture of high volume, low
cost RFID tags.
AlienTM was founded in l994. The company's facilities
include: its corporate headquarters in Morgan Hill, CA; an RFID tag
manufacturing facility in Fargo, ND; the Alien RFID Solutions Center,
in the Dayton, Ohio area, and sales offices in the US, Europe and Asia.
Alien is a member of EPCGlobal. More information about Alien is available
at www.alientechnology.com.
Alien, Alien Technology and FSA are trademarks or registered trademarks
of Alien Technology Corporation in the U.S. and other countries.
About E. Smith Consulting, LLC
E. Smith Consulting is a woman-owned small business that provides subject
matter expertise in the healthcare marketplace to support customers
in management consulting, information technology, and supply chain industries.
Specific expertise in defense and veterans' healthcare and state and
local healthcare issues are brought to companies looking to support
these clients. The company is located in Leesburg, Virginia and was founded
in 2001.
For More Information
VeriSign Media Relations: Katie Sheldon Hammler, khammler@verisign.com,
703-948-4367
VeriSign Investor Relations: Nancy Fazioli, ir@verisign.com,
650- 426-5146
Alien Technology Media Relations: Linda Prosser, lprosser@alientechnology.com,
408-782-3963
Trademarks
VeriSign and other trademarks, service marks and logos are registered
or unregistered marks of VeriSign, Inc. and its subsidiaries in the
United States and in foreign countries. Copyright © 2007 VeriSign, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Forward-Looking Statement
Statements in this announcement other than historical data and information
constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section
27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934. These statements involve risks and uncertainties
that could cause VeriSign’s actual results to differ materially from
those stated or implied by such forward-looking statements. The potential
risks and uncertainties include, among others, the uncertainty of future
revenue and profitability and potential fluctuations in quarterly operating
results due to such factors as the risk that VeriSign’s announced strategic
relationships, including the relationship described herein, may not
result in additional products, services, customers, profits or revenues;
and increased competition and pricing pressures. More information about
potential factors that could affect the company’s business and financial
results is included in VeriSign’s filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, including in the company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for
the year ended December 31, 2005 and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q.
VeriSign undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward-looking
statements after the date of this press release.
INPUT TargetView, by James Krouse, July 24, 2006.
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