ADT significantly cuts retail RFID deployment costs

In a typical medium sized retail store, an item-level RFID system would normally require around 100 readers to be installed and an initial hardware investment of around euro 300,000 (USD 435,000). With the iREAD platform, the system would only require around 10 readers to be installed -- a 90 percent reduction in reader hardware.

The initial investment falls to around euro 100,000 (USD 145,000) -- a reduction of more than 60 percent -- with further cost savings to be realized during ongoing operation. The benefits and cost savings can increase exponentially with the size and scale of the deployment.

ADT and its industry-leading Sensormatic brand of electronic article surveillance (EAS) anti-theft systems have a long history of large-scale, item-level tagging for inventory security. Karstadt Warenhaus GmbH, one of Germany's leading retailers and a user of Sensormatic EAS to secure its merchandise and reduce losses, has now deployed the iREAD platform as part of a major apparel implementation at one of its flagship stores.