Tech Data Adds Intermec POS/RFID Products

The Clearwater, Fla.-based distributor's POS/Data Capture Specialized Business Unit will carry the RFID, mobile computing, wireless networking, printer and data capture products.

"The focus is on their core data capture products, their wireless handheld products and their label printing solution. We also will begin to get into RFID," said Karl Werner, director of the advanced technologies group at Tech Data.

Products by Intermec, Everett, Wash., are also distributed through ScanSource, Avnet, Telpar, WAV and EMJ Canada, which Synnex acquired last year.

Intermec has a three-tiered channel program, with Open, Authorized and Honors levels. Tech Data will support all three levels, including high-end Honors products, which use a closed distribution model, Werner said.

Intermec's POS/data capture products will help Tech Data expand its offerings in those segments, but the RFID products are new territory for Tech Data, according to Werner. "This gives us a complete POS solution and great leverage with Cisco resellers and Microsoft Great Plains resellers," he said. "Intermec's SMB bundles are a perfect match for VARs."

Several distributors have begun looking more closely at the potential of RFID solutions as the Department of Defense and large retailers such as Wal-Mart have mandated that their vendor suppliers must tag their products with RFID by 2007.

"RFID has a lot of different applications. It can be extremely complex or extremely simple," Werner said. "Over last several years, it's been a one-off solution for a a specific need, like tracking a cart around a hospital, labeling cattle and the ID badges we wear here at Tech Data. But the real volume comes with retailers coming into the business. That's where we see opportunity for our resellers: to work with Intermec to come up with compliance solutions with regard to manufacturers in their area."

Solution providers with no RFID experience can still take advantage of the increased interest around the technology, Werner added. "The number of suppliers to big retailers compared to RFID resellers is a lot. There's a real opportunity gap," he said. "We are working with Intermec to provide solutions to resellers."

Wal-Mart set a January 2005 deadline for all cases and pallets entering its Texas facility to have RFID tags. By October this year, all Wal-Mart suppliers in Texas must have tags, and by 2007 all vendors with products entering a Wal-Mart distribution center must be tagged, according to Werner.

"There are 60,000 manufacturers under a 2007 RFID mandate. How do you get to 60,000 companies? You need a lot of VARs," he said.