Increased competition, and the infusion of international perspectives, will have a beneficial effect on the markets.

The industry wants to see a clear commitment from Wal-Mart that it will make a transition to Gen 2 technology in mid-2006 so that the market can focus less on consuming first generation technology and more on putting things in place to exploit the second generation.

Dozens of companies have swiftly changed gears to take advantage of this emerging opportunity. Many companies are trying to provide piecemeal solutions. There are many brands and co-brands, many form-factors. But one theme that has emerged time and time again from our research is the need for consistency.

Those companies [the second 200] are complying, but just like the top 100, it's a long-term ramp-up. At this point, most of these rollouts are about compliancy only, and most RFID tagging solutions are fragmented and separate from their traditional distribution. Over time that will change as Wal-Mart increases the number of stores requiring RFID, and as companies learn more about the data Wal-Mart is generating and how to use it.

In order to stand out in this field, a competitive company like Zebra must continually prove its ability to be innovative and to deliver the product. Technology needs both invention and execution. Some companies excel at innovation. Others are renowned for their effective implementation of new products, services and strategies. Companies like Zebra who excel at both are true leaders in their field.

(There's a) growing reliance on partnerships between smaller, more specialized RFID companies with great expertise but limited resources, and larger enterprise-level application integrators that have giant customers and plenty of skill at structuring their IT systems.