NCR yesterday became the latest RFID wireless tag specialist to ramp up its investment in back-end software, paying an undisclosed sum to acquire business process management (BPM) vendor IDVelocity.

NCR said IDVelocity's software would integrate with the NCR Teradata database for holding data gained from RFID tags, and would help firms improve the way they collect, move and use RFID data to optimise supply chains and other business processes.

Lee Schram, senior vice-president at NCR, said in a statement that RFID vendors realise that they need to provide more functionality around the data gained from RFID tags.

“Many believed the price of tags would be the greatest inhibitor to RFID adoption," Schram said. "But, in fact, transforming RFID data to eliminate the need for human intervention has been the true inhibiting factor and the most difficult to overcome.”

Schram added, “NCR… understands that the real breakthrough in operational efficiency and supply-chain security will not come from RFID alone, but through its combination with other technologies, such as global positioning systems, biotechnology, voice, barcodes and sensor technologies. IDVelocity provides NCR the foundation to create and deliver solutions utilising any combination of these technologies.”