Snowy Owl
Retired in 2010, In Memoriam
U.N. bureaucrat: RFID can help us do our jobs
WASHINGTON--Embedding electronic tags in containers of food and supplies--and even in workers' identification documents--will "revolutionize" the way the United Nations doles out relief in the aftermath of the next tsunami, civil war or disease outbreak, a senior organization official said Wednesday.
David Nabarro, U.N.'s bird flu coordinator
(Credit: United Nations)
When U.N. workers descend on distressed locales, they often encounter logjams at airport tarmacs and confusion over what exactly is in this or that box, said David Nabarro, who's chiefly in charge of coordinating responses to bird and human influenza for the U.N. Development Group.
Nabarro said he envisions his organization one day going the way of the military and companies like Wal-Mart, using radio-frequency identification (RFID) chips to track and trace those critical goods.
And ideally, even smarter chips could be used to send out signals that indicate what's happening inside a container--for instance, whether a box has been tampered with, knocked around in transit or subjected to high temperatures that could make food go sour.
"Effective RFI tracking and good inventory management software would make a huge difference in our ability to deal with relief (operations)," Nabarro told a group of U.S. bureaucrats and company representatives at an RFID event hosted here by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. (A number of companies, including SAP America, that sell RFID-related products, sponsored the event, so not surprisingly, it emitted a decidedly pro-RFID aura.)
http://www.news.com/8300-10784_3-7-0.html?keyword=united+nations
WASHINGTON--Embedding electronic tags in containers of food and supplies--and even in workers' identification documents--will "revolutionize" the way the United Nations doles out relief in the aftermath of the next tsunami, civil war or disease outbreak, a senior organization official said Wednesday.
(Credit: United Nations)
When U.N. workers descend on distressed locales, they often encounter logjams at airport tarmacs and confusion over what exactly is in this or that box, said David Nabarro, who's chiefly in charge of coordinating responses to bird and human influenza for the U.N. Development Group.
Nabarro said he envisions his organization one day going the way of the military and companies like Wal-Mart, using radio-frequency identification (RFID) chips to track and trace those critical goods.
And ideally, even smarter chips could be used to send out signals that indicate what's happening inside a container--for instance, whether a box has been tampered with, knocked around in transit or subjected to high temperatures that could make food go sour.
"Effective RFI tracking and good inventory management software would make a huge difference in our ability to deal with relief (operations)," Nabarro told a group of U.S. bureaucrats and company representatives at an RFID event hosted here by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. (A number of companies, including SAP America, that sell RFID-related products, sponsored the event, so not surprisingly, it emitted a decidedly pro-RFID aura.)
http://www.news.com/8300-10784_3-7-0.html?keyword=united+nations