Dec 13, 2010Adding to a growing list of recent RFID company acquisitions, integration and software firm ODIN acquired Reva Systems last week, thus adding Reva's middleware and appliances for managing multiple RFID EPC Gen 2 readers to ODIN's own integration services offerings. ODIN purchased the privately held Westford, Mass., company from Charles River Ventures and North Bridge Venture Partners, using a combination of cash and stocks to pay for the sale, which closed on Thursday, Dec. 9.
ODIN is now selling Reva Systems' solutions, including its Tag Acquisition Processor (TAP) products—commonly used in health-care settings for ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) passive RFID real-time location system (RTLS) solutions—under the new name of EasyTAP. EasyTAP will feature ODIN's existing RFID software offerings, which include EasyEdge, EasyMonitor, EasyArms, EasyKit and Intelligent Asset Management (I AM), combined with Reva Systems' TAP appliances and middleware. In addition, Reva's passive UHF RTLS solution for tracking health-care assets and personnel will be added to ODIN's health-care offerings. Reva's TAP product line includes RFID network appliances that allow scalable deployment of RFID in any environment. TAP's two models are designed to support sites with up to eight four-antenna RFID readers comprising 32 read points, or sites with up to 265 readers (1,024 read points).
Reva will transition from its current Westford location to a new ODIN office within that same city. Approximately 10 Reva technical staff members will remain with the company, but Reva's executives and administrative staff are not being retained. ODIN also intends to open a new office in Boston, and to hire a new technology team to support the ongoing development of the EasyTAP platform. In support of that work, the firm expects to hire additional Java developers, says ODIN's founder, Patrick J. Sweeney II.
The EasyTAP offering, Sweeney says, will enable ODIN to provide scalable solutions that include the software and middleware necessary to rapidly build an RFID system. "The big thing for our customers will be access to easy deployment with an intelligence layer," he says, which will allow fast implementation and integration with existing management systems. "Something that might have taken six to eight weeks could be done in about 10 days because we have a highly mature, scalable product."
Three years ago, ODIN developed the EasyEdge operating system software—which, Sweeney reports, has seen a great deal of success. However, he says, the solution also "needed location-based awareness, intelligence and logic." According to Sweeney, Reva's TAP solution provides just that, with the logic to determine a moving tag's location and direction as it passes readers. "We have sampled other people's middleware, but everyone fell short," he states. Most traditional middleware, he explains, "focuses on having a pretty-looking screen, and ignores the accuracy or intelligence around data collection."
By contrast, Sweeney adds, Reva's solution provides better location accuracy. "Reva put passive RTLS systems in hospitals with single-room location accuracy." Reva's solution, for example, was deployed at the Roy and Patricia Disney Family Cancer Center, which opened in February 2010 at the Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center, located in Burbank, Calif. (see RFID Helps Heal Body, Mind and Spirit).
ODIN will now offer three product options: its original EasyEdge software solution alone; the new EasyTAP product alone, installed in conjunction with "dumb" readers with a limited operating system or control intelligence built in; or EasyEdge and EasyTAP combined, to provide high availability and accuracy. All three options, Sweeney says, integrate into enterprise applications (either from ODIN or one of its partners, or an existing system, such as those from Oracle or SAP). "The entire network can be monitored and managed from the cloud," he states.
"ODIN," Nathanson says, "is excellent in integration, design and system development. It's one of the more technically competent and innovative companies. The strength of Reva is its appliance-based software package. It offers a decent suite of functionality that's easy to scale. I think ODIN got a pretty good deal."
For ODIN's customers, this may mean a "one-stop shop" solution at a lower price. Nathanson says he could envision a scenario in which the firm would offer a solution to customers based on Reva Systems' technology and its own integration services. This combined services solution, he indicates, is a trend that is continuing as the market for RFID grows.
"The focus of the RFID market and customers/end users remains on total solutions, and the deal is reflective of that trend, for sure," says Michael Liard, ABI Research's research director for RFID and bar-code scanning.
Nathanson expects that as RFID technology continues to grow over the coming months, there will likely be more such acquisitions similar to this one.
There have been several RFID technology-company acquisitions in recent months, including some outside of the RFID market. These include Trimble Navigation's acquisition of RFID reader manufacturer ThingMagic (see Trimble Acquires ThingMagic).
