Symbol Launches Mobile RFID Reader

The compact RD5000 can be integrated with forklifts, pallet jacks, stretch wrappers and other material handling equipment found in warehouses or storage areas. The idea behind a mobile reader is to make it easier to track goods by eliminating the need to have the devices set up at stationary locations that goods would have to pass through in order to be recorded. Such locations include dock doors.

"By RFID-enabling material handling equipment with Symbol's new RD5000 mobile RFID reader, organizations gain increased visibility to items in the supply chain all the way to the shelf or staging area," Anthony Bartolo, vice president and general manager of Symbol's Wireless Infrastructure and RFID Divisions, said in a statement.

The new reader can also be mounted on a forklift with the Symbol VC5090 vehicle/fixed mount computer, reducing the time drivers have to spend recording the receipt and movement of goods, Symbol said. Customers using the RD5000 reader include Creative Concepts Software, Xterprise, Rush Tracking Systems, and EPCSolutions.

Earlier this week, communications company Motorola said it has agreed to buy Symbol, based in Holtsville, N.Y., for $3.9 billion in stock. Symbol, which also makes bar-code scanners, handheld computers, wireless networking equipment and retail kiosks, is expected to become a unit of Motorola's networks and enterprise business. The deal is scheduled to close by early next year.