"RFID - radio-frequency identification - is an increasingly important technology, and we believe there is a tremendous opportunity to increase business performance for manufacturers, distributors, retailers and other industries," said Ted Kummert, Microsoft Corporate Vice President, Business Process and Integration Division, as Symbol Technologies today announced that the Symbol XR400, an enterprise-class RFID reader, will support Microsoft's newly announced product vision for the RFID infrastructure.

Symbol is demonstrating the XR400 RFID reader at the Tech·Ed 2005 conference this week.

"Microsoft is committed to providing tools and technologies that enable business process and supply chain efficiency," Kummert said.

The Symbol XR400 will be one of the first commercially deployed RFID readers to support the new Microsoft RFID infrastructure. It will take advantage of Microsoft's RFID infrastructure to provide customers with a familiar Microsoft interface for configuring, managing and deploying RFID within an enterprise.

Microsoft's RFID infrastructure is built on top of the Microsoft .NET Framework and will allow customers using readers like the Symbol XR400 to capture and interpret data to track and trace assets in real-time. Customers running applications such as inventory management in retail warehouses or baggage tracking in airports will be able to move and manage that information instantly, extending business intelligence to the edge of their networks.

"The combination of a flexible software platform that the Microsoft RFID infrastructure provides, along with innovative hardware technologies like the Symbol XR400, will help enable the adoption of RFID technology and lower the total cost of ownership for RFID solutions," added Kummert.

"The key feature of the XR400 and the integration of Microsoft's RFID infrastructure is its ability to support third party applications directly on the reader itself which enhance systems performance and flexibility," said John Bruno, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Symbol's RFID division. "We look forward to continuing to build a strong relationship with Microsoft to develop and deliver RFID solutions to the market."