Lowry Computer Products, Inc., a supplier of wireless, RFID-EPC, bar code, and data collection solutions, has announced an agreement with Texas Instruments Inc. Under the terms of the agreement, Lowry's label conversion facility will integrate TI's Electronic Product Code (EPC) Gen 2 inlays into its Smart Trac RFID labels for retail and Department of Defense (DoD) RFID supply chain applications.

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The EPCglobal Inc.’s EPC Gen 2 standard, currently under review by the International Standards Organization/International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC) for global adoption, is the newest and most advanced of the RFID specifications for the UHF band. Gen 2 will enable major technology providers to create interoperable offerings.

"As a result of our alliance with Texas Instruments, we expect to become a primary RFID label source to early adopters of Generation 2 tags," said Mike Lowry, president & CEO of Lowry Computer Products.

EPC Gen 2 has several advantages over the first-generation EPC Class 0 and Class 1 standards. Generation 2 technology has optimized performance in different global regulatory environments, read/write field programmability, faster tag read/write rates, operability in dense reader environments, and easy migration to future EPC classes.

"Industry momentum is building for EPC Gen 2 with tenfold performance improvement over Gen 1, enabling consumer product goods manufacturers to realize the return on investment RFID technology will deliver for the retail supply chain," said Julie England, vice president of Texas Instruments and general manager for Texas Instruments RFid Systems. "Lowry's comprehensive RFID solutions, which also include hardware, testing and systems integration, will provide what the industry is seeking as it moves from pilots to large-scale deployments of Gen 2 RFID technology."

In July, TI began ramping to high-volume production its UHF EPC Gen 2 inlays and straps. In addition, the company is working to facilitate interoperability of the EPC Gen 2 infrastructure, including encoders, readers, printers and hardware devices, accelerating market adoption by consumer goods manufacturers and retailers.