MARC RFID Compliance Kit Fulfills Supplier Needs by Meeting Wal-Mart and DoD Requirements

MARC Global Partners with OATSystems to Deliver Proven RFID

DULLES, VA – January 8, 2004 – MARC Global, the leading provider of supply chain execution solutions for the world’s most demanding companies, today announced the expansion of the MARC Global product suite with the addition of two comprehensive and proven Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) offerings: MARC RFID Compliance Kit™ and MARC RFID Enterprise Edition™. Additionally, the company has entered a strategic alliance with OATSystems, Inc., the developer of the world's most widely deployed standards-based RFID solutions.

MARC Suite™ RFID Solutions

MARC RFID Compliance Kit is an easy-to-implement and affordable solution aimed directly at fulfilling Wal-Mart and Department of Defense (DoD) requirements. The MARC solution is standards-based and complies with Class 0 and Class 1 reader support as required for full compliance. The Compliance Kit delivers printing of RFID Electronic Product Code (EPC) tags in-line or at shipment and allows verification of content and delivery. It meets the requirement for EPC management, tag quality assurance (including the situation where different form factor tags are required for different product characteristics), case-to-pallet linkage and EPC-enabled Advance Ship Notices (ASNs). Scalability has been proven to over 6,000 transactions per second and can support 100-plus readers on a low-cost server.

MARC RFID Enterprise Edition goes far beyond mere customer compliance to deliver more value from RFID. In addition to the functionality offered in the MARC RFID Compliance Kit, Enterprise Edition delivers the following key value:

  • Reduced costs
    • Reduces need for manual inspection and RF data entry
    • Reduces capital expenditures through improved asset utilization
    • Reduces need for safety stock via more efficient supply-chain management
    • Minimizes expenses associated with theft and loss
    • Provides better regulatory tracking and tracking alerts, and keeps regulated materials under tight control
    • Reduces counterfeiting through tight real-time tracking
    • Reduces perishable spoilage through product status alerts (including temperature sensing)
  • Greater efficiency
    • Ensures optimal production and inventory levels through "self-regulating" supply chain
    • Eliminates time-consuming and error-prone manual processes via automated data capture
  • Improved service
    • Results in fewer stock-outs due to better inventory regulation
    • Reduces pricing and shipping errors due to more accurate data capture and management
  • Increased profitability
    • Increases profits through better inventory and production management
    • Provides better, more profitable decisions via real-time visibility
    • Results in more profitable operations through streamlined processes and automation

“Our MARC Suite RFID solutions are unique because they are field proven. With the flurry of RFID announcements and continuously evolving standards, it is only too easy for companies to choose an RFID solution that boxes them out of future value and potentially the very compliance they seek,” said Oliver Cooper, CEO, MARC Global. “At a time when companies are trying to get a return on their RFID investment, they need assurance that their solution will work right the first time and have the integrity to scale to the more complex applications the technology will deliver in the future. Our offerings are simple to deploy and use, and they offer the comprehensive capabilities and configurability that our customers are accustomed to, while eliminating risk through proven implementation performance. Based on our success in this area, we guarantee successful implementations of all of our offerings to our customers.”

MARC Global and OATSystems Partnership

MARC Global’s expanded RFID offerings are built upon OATSystems’ Senseware™ middleware platform. MARC Global and OATSystems have formed a strategic partnership to jointly pursue the emerging market for RFID-enabled supply chain execution solutions. Since 2001, OATSystems has been at the heart of standards and technology development at MIT’s Auto-ID Center (now EPCglobal), having deployed the middleware for the Center’s initial field trials. OATSystems has successfully completed over 20 comprehensive RFID implementations for pharmaceutical, CPG, retail, logistics and DoD clients.

“Like the entire MARC Suite, MARC RFID is designed to offer maximum configurability and adaptability to the ever-changing needs our customers have in their warehousing environments. Partnering with OATSystems to incorporate their Senseware RFID middleware, which provides sophisticated data filtering and robust device management and monitoring in order to abstract the complexity of RFID for enterprise applications, enables us to focus on the value-added applications of RFID technology throughout our product suite," said Ronald Riggin, CTO, MARC Global.


“MARC Global is an excellent company to partner with as they have solved many of the complex challenges that very demanding customers have faced,” said Prasad Putta, CEO, OATSystems. “The MARC Suite product line is highly functional, well proven and very easy to configure allowing it to be adapted to the ever-changing needs these companies have. Both of our companies’ products are proven and designed with agility, ease of deployment and use, and low cost of ownership in mind. It is a strong combination that provides synergy for our customers.”

About OATSystems

Founded in 2001, OATSystems, Inc. is the developer of the world's most widely deployed standards-based RFID solutions. The company has worked closely with MIT's Auto-ID Center to develop many of the key standards and technologies that make commercial deployments of RFID possible. OATSystems' Senseware™ – the company's flagship product – provides a complete and powerful standards-based RFID solution for companies in the retail, CPG, manufacturing, pharmaceutical and logistics markets. OATSystems is headquartered in Watertown, Massachusetts, with a development office in Hyderabad, India. The company is privately held, and is backed by Matrix Partners and Greylock. For further information, visit www.oatsystems.com.

About MARC Global

MARC Global is the supply chain execution solutions company that has improved customer fulfillment, profitability and cash flow for the world’s most demanding companies by solving their most complex supply-chain challenges with its MARC Suite™ offerings. MARC has consistently proven to help companies achieve superior operational productivity and competitive advantage. MARC Global is a leader in several industries, including pharmaceutical, automotive, high tech, 3PL, retail supply, retail and CPG, and has offices in the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific. MARC Global provides products and services worldwide that have been proven successful in over 220 customer implementations in 24 countries and in 9 languages managing billions of dollars worth of supply-chain transactions every day. MARC Global customers include many companies that make up the global Fortune 500. For further information, visit www.marcglobal.com.

About MARC Suite Fulfillment Solutions

MARC Suite includes solutions for Warehouse Management, Transportation Management and Inventory Distribution Optimization. MARC Suite offers unmatched adaptability, configurability, proven functional capabilities, flexible integration and world-class technology solutions that meet the highly diversified requirements of companies with complex supply-chain and distribution requirements. MARC Suite incorporates Oracle’s latest 9i technology; operates across all leading Unix and Windows platforms; integrates with current systems, including SAP, Oracle, JDE, legacy and ASRS; and provides configurable tools for advanced supply chain execution applications including warehouse management, labor management, activity-based billing, event visibility, global trading, transportation management, inventory distribution optimization and enterprise content exchange integration. MARC Global’s software products have been deployed to customer sites on projects ranging in scope from mid-sized to the world’s largest.