EPCglobal

EPCglobal is a joint venture between GS1 (formerly known as EAN International) and GS1 US (formerly the Uniform Code Council, Inc.). It is an organization set up to achieve worldwide adoption and standardization of Electronic Product Code (EPC) technology.

The main focus of the group currently is to create both a worldwide standard for RFID and the use of the Internet to share data via the EPCglobal Network.

EPCglobal's board of governors includes representatives from EPCglobal, GS1, Auto-ID Labs, Cisco Systems, DHL/Exel Supply Chain, Haier Group Company, Johnson & Johnson, Kimberly-Clark Corporation, LG Electronics, Lockheed Martin Corporation, METRO AG, Novartis Pharma AG, Office of the Secretary of Defense, Procter & Gamble, Sony Corporation, The Dow Chemical Company and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

EPCglobal was formed in October, 2003 as the successor organization to the MIT Auto-ID Center, the original creator of the EPC technology. EPCglobal manages the EPC network and standards, while its sister organization, Auto-ID Labs, manages and funds research on the EPC technology.

EPC Information Services (EPCIS) is an EPCglobal standard designed to enable EPC-related data sharing within and across enterprises. This data sharing is aimed at enabling participants in the EPCglobal Network to obtain a common view of the disposition of EPC-bearing objects within a business context. The initial version of the EPCIS standard was ratified on April 12, 2007 and provided basic capability that meets the requirements of a set of use cases that the EPCglobal community identified as a minimal useful set. As such, the EPCIS standard can be used by any application in any industry. However, the standard supports extensibility so end users and industry groups can address specific application and industry use cases through industry and custom extensions or companion specifications.

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