Executive Summary (This is a document excerpt)

Radio frequency identification (RFID) uses radio waves to transmit key information to and from small tags. This information can describe the identity and location of physical objects as varied as automobiles, hospital equipment, and cases of potato chips. In the case of active tags operating under battery power, RFID can also report an object's condition. Although early RFID pilots have focused on the retail supply chain, more companies are now piloting RFID across other business processes including asset management, industrial automation, and track-and-trace. RFID is one of many technologies that extends the Internet to the physical world, vastly improving the way companies manage physical assets and products. The connection of the physical to the digital is a trend Forrester calls the Extended Internet (X Internet).