RFID TECHNOLOGY

SAP continues to lead the software industry in the development of solutions for radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. For example, companies with SAP-enabled RFID solutions currently in place include Airbus SAS and Fraport AG.

In 2004, SAP announced the launch of the first packaged RFID solution for supply chain management. This solution draws on our experience with leading companies as well as six years of RFID research and involvement in RFID standards organizations. And it will dramatically change supply chain management in the retail and consumer product industries. For example, Purdue Pharma L.P., a privately owned pharmaceutical company with headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, is using the RFID solution to accelerate supply chain processes and enable RFID compliance mandated by key customers such as Wal-Mart.

Among the future RFID initiatives in SAP’s development portfolio are “Collaborative Business Items,” which embed dynamic logic into physical items such as hazardous materials containers. Also planned is “Product Lifecycle Management and Information Tracking Using Smart Embedded Systems,” which enables companies to monitor products and machines to the end of their life cycles. Both are currently being investigated in large research projects in cooperation with industry users and technology partners.

HUMAN COMPUTER INTERACTION

SAP’s research activities in the area of Human Computer Interaction aim to enhance the end-user experience by improving SAP’s interfaces to our customers. This not only includes existing customers, but increasingly non-expert users, users with various disabilities, and users from non-Western cultures. We mainly focus on the three areas: advanced interaction, accessibility, and cross cultural interface design.

For example, accessibility research aims to support interaction by users with physical and sensory disabilities through the use of new and different interface modalities. In this area, one of our activities is in the development of natural language-based prototypes that gather information proactively to help users perform tasks. We also explore the use of voice and multimodal interfaces for desktop-based environments, for mobile devices such as PDAs and mobile phones, and further into wearable computers and ubiquitous computing environments.