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Symbol Technologies Expands Enterprise Mobility Portfolio with New RFID Products and Solutions.

Publication: Business Wire
Date: Wednesday, September 29 2004

BALTIMORE -- Symbol Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:SBL):

--First Commercially Available EPC-Enabled Turnkey Dock Door Portal Solution Eases RFID Installations

--Symbol's First RFID Handheld Extends Flagship Mobile Computing Family

Symbol Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:SBL), The

Enterprise Mobility Company(TM), today expanded its end-to-end RFID offerings by introducing the new Distribution Center 400 (DC 400) RFID dock door portal solution and its new rugged mobile computer, the Symbol MC9000-G with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). These new products, which are on display this week at the EPCglobal US Conference 2004 in Baltimore (booth #103 and #106), expand Symbol's position in Advanced Data Capture technologies and provide mobility solutions to a range of markets across the retail supply chain.

"RFID must be deployed as part of a complete system that allows organizations to capture, move and manage information to and from the point of business activity," said Phil Lazo, vice president and general manager of Symbol's RFID Infrastructure Division. "Symbol's introduction of the DC 400 and MC9000-G with RFID further demonstrates that RFID is not a stand-alone technology which is disconnected from the network and unmanageable."

Easy-To-Install RFID Portal Solution

Symbol's DC 400 is the industry's first EPC-enabled turnkey RFID portal solution designed specifically for industrial dock doors and portal environments. The DC 400 is an easy-to-install, remotely managed 900MHz RFID solution that will allow manufacturing facilities, distribution centers, and retail stores to read class 0 (read only and read/write) and class 1 RFID tags at all shipping and receiving points, without human intervention. The ruggedized design of the DC 400 portal solution was created specifically for the harsh environmental conditions of a warehouse.

The scalable and cost-effective DC 400 portal solution includes multi-protocol RFID readers and high-performance antennas designed to enable organizations to achieve inventory and supply chain optimization by reading RFID tags on cartons and pallets as they are loaded in and out of trucks and containers. The reader infrastructure, based on Symbol's multi-protocol AR 400 with Ethernet connectivity and advanced SNMP and remote management capabilities, can be upgraded as new standards evolve in the marketplace. The DC 400 also comes with an API set for standard and customized integration with management systems for performance monitoring and operational visibility.

Rugged Handheld with Integrated RFID and Bar Code Readers

Symbol today also announced the introduction of its new rugged mobile computer, the MC9000-G with RFID. With the MC9000-G RFID handheld, retail, manufacturing, and logistics organizations will be able to deploy RFID-enabled mobile computing solutions designed to improve corporate efficiencies and productivity by tracking objects and goods in motion throughout the supply chain. Some of the possible applications for the Symbol MC9000-G with RFID include inventory management for assembly lines; price verification by retail personnel; warehouse management of pallets and cartons using both RFID and bar codes; and baggage tracking by airline personnel.

The MC9000-G with RFID leverages the same hardware platform as Symbol's MC9000-G rugged mobile computer, while adding support for the Electronic Product Code (EPC) -- the most popular RFID standard, in an RFID handheld capable of reading EPC tags at distances as far as 10 feet.

Symbol's new lightweight interrogator antenna was designed, tested and manufactured to withstand repeated six-foot drops to concrete. It also features directional (70 degree forward) field generation to enable users to isolate the RFID tags they are interested in reading. In addition, because the MC9000-G with RFID is based on EPCglobal's RFID specification, the RFID reader operates in the U.S./Canada-based 902-928 MHz spectrum.

"The Symbol MC9000-G with RFID enables employees working at the edge of the enterprise to play a critical role in enterprise mobility by capturing information from both RFID tags and bar codes, helping them to move information faster, so real-time decisions can be made," continued Lazo. "RFID technology must be part of a tightly integrated solution that combines both mobile and fixed RFID readers with other enterprise mobility elements in order to enable organizations to capture, move and manage critical information from the dock door to the retail floor."

About Symbol Technologies

Symbol Technologies, Inc., The Enterprise Mobility Company(TM), is a recognized worldwide leader in enterprise mobility, delivering products and solutions that capture, move and manage information in real time to and from the point of business activity. Symbol enterprise mobility solutions integrate advanced data capture products, radio frequency identification technology, mobile computing platforms, wireless infrastructure, mobility software and world-class services programs under the Symbol Enterprise Mobility Services brand. Symbol enterprise mobility products and solutions are proven to increase workforce productivity, reduce operating costs, drive operational efficiencies and realize competitive advantages for the world's leading companies. More information is available at www.symbol.com.

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