SAMSys Signs Up Four RFID Partners
Reader maker hope value-added resellers will help it penetrate new vertical markets.
Nov. 7, 2002 -- SAMSys Technologies, a Toronto maker of RFID readers (TSX-VEN: SMY), has signed agreements with four value-added resellers: Alpha Software, John Voris Industrial Engineering Group, VeriCode Systems, and Wallace.
SAMSys chairman and CEO Cliff Horwitz says he realized some time ago that his company didn’t have "the bandwidth to implement large-scale implementations" on its own. So it began looking for partners with experience in implementing systems in different vertical industries.
"These announcements reflect our core strategy, which is that we need to go to market through clearly identified vertical segments," says Horwitz. "We are partnering with integrators that are best positioned to address those vertical markets."
Alpha Software is a software development and consulting company based in Richmond, Va. It is a leader in providing RFID systems for tracking drums, pallets, small tool and other items used in the utility industry. It has also developed smart shelves for warehouses.
John Voris Industrial Engineering Group, a Los Gatos, Calif., manufacturing and distribution process engineering firm, will use SAMSys's readers in JVIE's radio frequency routing solution for conveyor systems (see photo). John Voris primarily serves the automotive and high technology manufacturing markets.
VeriCode Systems is a systems integrator based in Bolingbrook, Ill. It provides a full range of services, including systems design, installation, and integration for automatic data capture systems in warehouses. SAMSys's readers will be integrated with VeriCode's Pallet Track and Carton Track solutions, which provide manufacturers and distributors with real-time information needed to keep manufacturing and shipping operations running efficiently.
Wallace (NYSE: WCS) is a Lisle, Ill., print-management service provider. The company incorporates RFID technology into smart labels to offer customers the ability to track goods and assets in their supply chains. Under the agreement, SAMSys's RFID readers will be integrated with Wallace's full-range of RFID applications.
As part of the partnership agreements, SAMSys will work with the four VARs to show them how to install RFID readers. Horwitz says he expects the arrangements to bear fruit quickly.
"All of these companies actively involved in very specific projects at the moment," he says. "We hope that each of these relationships will result in revenue-generating opportunities in the near term."
Horwitz adds that SAMSys will continue to add more VARs to its partnership program. But it will partner with only one company in each industry segment, so the VARs are not competing with one another.
