Alien Technology(R) Announces Next Generation EMEA Gen 2 Radio Frequency Identification Reader

FRANKFURT, GERMANY--(Marketwire - October 20, 2009) - RFID Live! Europe (Booth #211) -- Alien Technology, an industry leader in UHF Gen 2 radio frequency identification (RFID) products and services, today announced the expansion of its high performance enterprise category reader platform. The new ALR-9900-EMA reader is designed to the latest ETSI regulations, serving Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, and densely packs numerous feature-rich offerings in half its predecessor's footprint.

"The ALR-9900-EMA reader elevates the 866MHz-band product line to a whole new plateau," explains Victor Vega, Alien Technology Marketing Director, "This new generation architecture delivers exceptional performance within a compact package. It is designed to the new ETSI EN 302-208-2 regulatory compliance standards, more commonly known as 'the four-channel-plan.' It supports near-field and far-field coupling, and includes the powerful Alien® Reader Protocol (ARP) engine for stand-alone autonomous mode of operation as well as full support of all custom commands for Alien's industry leading Higgs™-3 based inlay portfolio, including extended memory, anti-counterfeit authentication, and read cloaking."

About the ALR-9900-EMA

The ALR-9900-EMA provides backwards compatibility to today's tried-and-true ALR-8800 reader. It supports four independent read zones with a monostatic design (single antenna per zone) and offers a highly effective Dense Reader Mode in conjunction with superb interference rejection to ensure high read rates even in noisy, congested reader environments. Features are abundant, including: monostatic antenna reflection cancellation for optimum system performance; auto-adjusting tag inventory optimization; a low duty-cycle 'Sniff-'n-Read' (Seek) feature to activate the reader only when tags are detected in the RF field, helping reduce ambient noise and reader power; ARP and Automode for autonomous reader interrogation, triggered either by user-defined time parameters or by external sensors; an installation-friendly general purpose input and output interface with high capacity output drivers to control external visual or audible indicators, conveyor pushers, diverters, or access gates; masking and notification filtering to streamline network traffic; and data streaming options for ultra-fast applications.

Additional features include: RSSI (tag signal strength) and velocity filters to help alleviate stray tag reads; I/O data streaming capabilities for monitoring external sensors; a user-defined 'state-machine' allowing acquisition parameters and antenna sequencing optimization, including Gen 2 settings such as 'Sessions' and 'Selects'; Alien Reader Custom Application for porting business and application code directly on the reader; Intelligent Tag Radar features to enhance tag singulation and to detect relative tag direction and velocity; support of both near-field and far-field antennas with a suite of well over a dozen compatible antenna offerings; and software compatibility with marquee software providers.

All of this and more in a compact 18 cm x 20 cm footprint enables a broader deployment in a wider variety of applications. For additional product information, please download the ALR-9900-EMA datasheet.

About Alien Technology

Alien Technology is a leading provider of UHF RFID products and services, including RFID ICs, inlays, readers, and RFID education. Alien is headquartered in Morgan Hill, California, with its subsidiaries Alien Technology Asia in South Korea and Quatrotec, in Millbrae, California. The RFID Solutions Center is located in the Dayton, Ohio region. Alien maintains sales offices in the US, Europe, and Asia.

Learn more about Alien's award-winning Higgs™-3 RFID IC, our performance-leading Squiggle® inlay product line, and the renowned RFID Academy at: www.alientechnology.com.

Alien, Alien Technology, the Alien logo, Higgs, and Squiggle are trademarks or registered trademarks of Alien Technology Corporation in the United States and other countries.

Contact Information: Contact: Victor Vega Alien Technology Marketing Director Phone: 408-782-3930