RFID MIddleware and Underwear
Posted by Patrick Sweeney on Sun, Mar 27, 2011
Alt title:RFID Sex and the Navy
For the past decade I’ve lived with the wild conspiracy theories around RFID – the mark of the beast, the new world order, the secret Pentavirate that meet tri-annually at a country mansion know as the Meadows. Yes I’ve heard all the whack-job stories you could imagine. But it wasn’t until last week that I found something so astonishing that I had to break out an entire bottle of Cabernet and re-read the court documents.
Every industry has an underbelly of greedy people who will sell their body, their morality or their soul for a few bucks. They don’t put that much value in any of those so they are guiltless parting with them for easy money. Where it gets truly repugnant is when the very soldiers who defend our safety and freedom have their lives put at risk by the lowest of those leeches motivated either by ego or greed.
Every US Civil Servants swears to a code of conduct and pledges they will:
- “Put loyalty to the highest moral principles and to country above loyalty to persons, party, or government department."
99.9% of US Civil servants that I have come across live by this code of ethics and honor. Sadly, I’ve met more than one working in DoD RFID programs who fail that vital test. Is it the new technology or our industry?
Most recently the story of Sex, lies, audiotape, corrupt civil servants, alleged sexual profiteering and what we now have is the RFID industry under an ugly spotlight.
ODIN was a direct actor at one point in the events that took place as described in the court documents between Robert Bacon at Navy AIT office, Globe Ranger and Software AG (WebMethods). The Navy was looking for a replacement solution to scale up the deployment to 500 locations; several providers (ODIN’s EasyEdge, Reva’s TAP, and OAT) proposed technically superior solutions at a lower cost than the current Globe Range solution. However the award went to the relatively unknown Software AG and WebMethods (both have had their share of alleged trade and ethics violations –WebMethods has been accused of stealing ideas and software in the past). The eventual award shocked me and several of the other players from a technical perspective. At the time we all were scratching our heads. This wrongful award instigated a snowball of missed delivery, substandard performance and eventually a civil servant named Robert Bacon being put on administrative leave. Thanks to him and his alleged mistress the limelight comes to RFID for “Sex and the Navy”. It’s dirty laundry we can do without.
Where are people who act without honor in RFID? A large Microsoft RFID partner was allegedly sued by its biggest customer last year for performance and integrity issues, government contractors have been part of high-profile scandals in the past. At the end of the day Globe Ranger will likely get some settlement from Software AG to make this go away, and it may save that struggling company, or provide an exit for the VC (who supposedly have been looking to sell for a while). However neither Software AG nor Globe Range will come out of this poised to take advantage of the global growth in RFID, and the RFID industry will be cast in a negative light that is not commensurate with the great benefits the technology can provide.
RFID Industry Commitment to Ethics
Every US military academy and the University where I obtained my business degree have strict honor codes. Students learn honor violations cost many times over what little gain may arise. Why can’t people in RFID adopt the same code of ethics? I hope that at next month’s RFID Journal Live tradeshow people take the initiative and do their best to build a sterling reputation for an industry poised to change the world. Act with the utmost integrity.
People need to take a lesson away from this lawsuit no matter what the outcome:
- Integrity, honor and quality all have a cost. Reputation and clean conscious are priceless.
RFID companies that have been around and are growing with integrity, customer care and high moral standards are the ones that will reap the rewards and succeed wildly in this industry.
Sadly, there may be customers who are the victims of collateral damage from the odd unscrupulous actor still left in RFID. Caveat Emptor – buyer beware.
My dad used to say if something seems too good to be true it usually is. If you are buying RFID software and one of the bids is significantly lower than the others there is a reason. It's likely because the software doesn't have as much investment, they don't have the support Infrastructure that a global operation needs, or they are selling below cost in hopes of making it up with change orders or just giving the software away to try and keep the company afloat. Do your research!
If you are an RFID customer, support and reward companies that demonstrate high moral standards and commitment to integrity.
If you are an RFID professional hold yourself up to the same high moral standard our military leaders must – honor, ethical behavior, and doing what is right. In 25 years of business I’ve never met anyone who hasn’t, in the long run, examplafied living by the sword and dying by the sword, reaping what is sown, or having their Karma run them over. We’re no different as an industry so let’s plant the seeds of fruitful growth and lasting benefit.