Active RFID and Sensor Networks

Active RFID a systems business
In 2007, 63.9 percent of the spend on active RFID will be on the system (reader, network, installation, software) as opposed to the tags. As the number of tags per application increases, this changes so that by 2017 the spend on everything other than tags is 57.3 percent. Companies involved know that this is not like the highest volume uses of passive RFID tags where disposable labels are usually involved and the label cost can be 50 percent of the total cost. Most active RFID (such as RTLS) is more of a systems business.
Strong Investment
Recently, the investment community has taken even more interest in active RFID. Of 27 recent fund raisings by RFID companies studied by IDTechEx, 37 percent of the companies involved are in active RFID. 22 percent are in the particularly popular RTLS sector. Recent acquisitions also favour active RFID companies. Indeed the largest exit, for hundreds of millions of dollars, was a company selling active RFID systems - Savi Technology sold to Lockheed Martin in 2006.