Mercury5e Embedded RFID Module to Enable Users to Print RFID ID Badges for Building and Office Entry, Personnel Tracking for Safety, and Other Workplace and Access Applications

Cambridge, MA, May 1, 2007 – ThingMagic, Inc. (www.thingmagic.com), a leading developer of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, announced today that its Mercury5e embedded reader module will be added to EDIsecure® XID 570i and 580i Re-transfer Card Printers, sold and supported nationwide by The IRIS Companies (www.irisltd.com). As a result, IRIS customers will be able to quickly print color UHF RFID ID badges for secure building and office entry, personnel tracking for safety, and other workplace and access applications.

“Many RFID-enabled ID badge systems use the close proximity HF standard, which requires users to almost touch a badge to a low range RFID reader. By enabling UHF RFID badges, personnel need only wear a badge on a lanyard, or attached it to a pocket, in order to be read by an RFID reader within a few yards,” said Kevin Ashton, VP marketing for ThingMagic. “UHF RFID makes the system easier to use, and more accurate overall, since it doesn’t rely on users always almost touching a low range HF reader. We expect strong demand for such an agile RFID printer, and continue to work with IRIS on workplace deployments and applications.”

“The ThingMagic Mercury5e reader is the ideal Generation 2 UHF RFID technology for the EDIsecure® X ID 570i and 580i Re-transfer Card Printers, given Mercury5e’s processing power, accuracy, small form factor, easy upgradeability and low power consumption,” said Karl Ziegler, COO, The IRIS Companies. “By using UHF RFID with this ID badge printer, we’re providing advanced RFID technology, security and accuracy to workplace and access applications.”

This new Mercury5e reader utilizes the Intel RFID Transceiver R1000 chip, which integrates a number of components into a single integrated RFID circuit, and enables digital signal processing and analog data processing on the same chip. This supported ThingMagic in developing the lower energy-consumption, higher performance, smaller Mercury5e, for use in RFID desktop, label, mobile and wearable printers, and handheld and mobile devices.

The Mercury5e embedded RFID reader module also:

• Combines multi-region capability into a single module, enabling immediate, locally compliant deployment of any Mercury5e in Europe, North America, or South Korea;
• Utilizes an embedded version of the latest “Yagi” MercuryOS, for more 100 percent tag reads, many more simultaneous reads, and the ability to identify and filter interference from other RFID readers, fluorescent lighting, and wireless networks and telephones;
• Is optimized for Generation 2 RFID tags, for state of the art performance;
• Supports Generation 2 Dense Reader Mode, and advanced filtering, to reject multiple interference sources; and
• Consumes very little power, for maximum battery life and a broader range of applications.

Mercury5e is available on an OEM basis to manufacturers of label makers, print and apply machines, and other embedded, mobile and handheld RFID devices.