Japan's Hitachi, US's Oracle to tie up on chip-based tracing system

TOKYO (AFP) Dec 15, 2003
Japanese electronics maker Hitachi said Monday it will tie up with US software giant Oracle to develop a chip-based real-time package tracing system, replacing the bar code-scanning technology.

The companies will start shipping the first prototype in January, Hitachi Ltd. said in a statement, adding the system should help improve the efficiency of physical distribution and trim paperwork.

The new system will "allow tracking individual packages and responding immediately to changes to the delivery destination, time and other conditions," Hitachi said.

The move is part of Hitachi's plan to boost revenues of products that use its 0.4 square-millimeter 'Mu-chip' to 15 billion yen (139 million dollars) in the year to March 2006 up from roughly zero in the year to next March, a Hitachi spokesman said.

The chip has already been used in inventory control.

The Hitachi-Oracle tracking system under development will allow clients to trace their cargo, using global positioning system (GPS) technology in combination with the chips, which will be attached directly to the packages, Hitachi said.

SPACE.WIRE