Printronix Series 5 manual Smart Label DEVELOPER’S Environment, Rfid Smart Printers

P R I N T R O N I X .

T H E F I R S T N A M E I N S M A R T L A B E L T E C H N O L O G Y

FIRST TO DELIVER A UHF PRINTER FOR ENCODING EPC-COMPLIANT LABELS

FIRST SMART LABEL DEVELOPER’S KIT

FIRST TO PROVIDE CERTIFIED SMART LABELS

RADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION RADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION INCREASED SUPPLY CHAIN VISIBILITY RADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION RADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION RADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION RADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION RADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION

Printronix has been a global leader in providing intelligent industrial and back-office enterprise printing solutions for 30 years. During this period we have earned a reputation as a technology innovator by offering a full selection of well-designed product solutions and unsurpassed service. We continue that tradition in the emerging

field of RFID (radio frequency identification) technology.

For example, Printronix was the first to:

➔Ship UHF, Class 1, EPC-compliant RFID Smart™ label solutions to help companies and their suppliers conform to emerging specifications

➔Offer a Smart Label Developers Kit (SLDK ™)

➔Deliver a Smart Label Pilot Printer (SLPP ™) product offering to make it easy to expand pilot programs

➔Deliver a multi-protocol smart label printer supporting all existing EPC classes

In addition, Printronix offers innovations such as:

➔RFID print-and-apply solutions that address compliance and automated application requirements

➔Certified smart labels that ensure accurate reading, encoding and printing performance

➔Certified RFID Integrator Program to access leading RFID experts and technicians who will help you seamlessly integrate and deploy RFID smart label solutions

As part of our pioneering efforts, Printronix is a founding member of EPCglobal, an international organization responsible for creating RFID industry standards and specifications.

Whether you have questions about the best RFID solution for your company, how to initiate a pilot program or how to deploy RFID throughout your supply chain, you can look to Printronix for experienced-based answers.

PROTECTING YOUR TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENT

As a founding member of EPCglobal, Printronix is working to establish industry standards that will ensure your RFID printers integrate smoothly into your current IT network and supply chain operations.

We recognize that RFID standards will continue to evolve over the next few years, and protecting your investment in RFID technology today is a key design goal for our products and services. Printronix helps protect your technology investment by including a flexible upgrade path that includes software-upgradeable reader technology. We have also created unique models of our thermal printers that can be field-upgraded to support RFID technology.

SMART LABEL DEVELOPER’S ENVIRONMENT

One of the important first steps in developing an RFID pilot program is creating a smart label development environment. This will allow you to experiment with, test and measure smart labels to find the ideal RFID solutions for your company without disrupting your current operations.

Printronix makes it easy for you to initiate your pilot program by offering a com- prehensive, best-of-breed Smart Label Developer’s Kit (SLDK). The kit includes everything you need—printer, encoder, software, certified smart labels, manuals

and support—to create your RFID development environment right out of the box.

It allows you to:

➔Print and encode smart labels

➔Test read ranges, read speeds and data capture

➔Determine optimum label placement

➔Establish the best locations for fixed reader terminals

➔Check for radio frequency interference

Once you’re satisfied that your test environment has provided enough insight into your smart labeling requirements, you can define and start your pilot program.

RFID SMART PRINTERS

Smart labels come from smart printers, and Printronix offers a range of world-class UHF printers and solutions that provide maximum versatility and flexibility.

The SmartLine™ of RFID printers includes models that support multi-protocol reader technology for maximum flexibility as well as models with reader technology focused on optimizing the EPC Class 1 protocol. The

SmartLine of RFID printers also supports a range of smart label sizes and antenna configurations to provide customers with the choices they need to implement RFID in their various applications. And all Printronix RFID printers support software upgrades to keep up with evolving EPC standards.

CERTIFIED RFID SMART LABELS

Printronix certified smart labels combine the technology of thermal-transfer, pressure-sensitive labels with RFID. We have gone to great lengths to ensure that our smart labels—with their many different sizes and

antenna configurations—provide the finest RF performance possible when used with our printers. Under software

control, the printer writes data to the RFID tag, then validates that the EPC information

can be read reliably. After completing this validation process, the printer prints the human-readable and bar code data. If for

any reason the encoding process cannot be validated, the label is printed with an overstrike pattern to

prevent it from entering your supply chain.

SOFTWARE MIGRATION TOOLS

Printronix has developed a set of Software Migration Tools (SMT™) that enable our printers to automatically encode smart labels from your existing UPC label bar code applica- tion. The SMT encodes bar code data from your current data stream to the smart label via a selection of label templates. The Printronix SMT resides in the printer and allows you to use existing label design software with no modifications to create encoded smart labels. Once selected, the tools automatically print existing bar code labels and encode the GTIN, UPC or SSCC number in the smart label.