[04/19/06]
Leading supply chain solutions provider, Manhattan Associates, Inc., will participate in Indiana University-Bloomington's annual Little 500 bicycle races, scheduled for April 21 and 22, 2006. Manhattan Associates' team is assisting the Indiana University School of Informatics with a project that the students call iCycle--which utilizes RFID technology on race day to capture critical time and lap information on teams and individual riders. Manhattan Associates has provided its RFID Solutions and services, utilizing business partner Symbol Technologies' XR400 RFID readers and RFID tags, for the university's premier cycling tradition.
"Manhattan Associates has given us a lot of support to help make this new feature of the event a success. The company's RFID software and hardware has helped us establish a user-friendly solution to integrate easily to our systems," says William C. Woods, a participating student at the Indiana University School of Informatics. "The RFID solution will update a Web site in real time so that there will be an accurate lap count for the entire race, by team and by rider."
Although not an official record of the race, the information provided through iCycle can help confirm RFID technology as a viable, accurate method for data capture. The race is open to Indiana University-Bloomington's full-time undergraduates. Teams of up to four compete in either the 200-lap men's race or 100-lap women's race on a quarter mile track before more than 20,000 spectators. This year, RFID tags will be secured to the helmets of riders participating in iCycle. These tags will be read by an RFID antenna posted at the first turn. The antenna will capture information on the lap times and speeds of teams and individual riders. To do this, the students are utilizing Manhattan Associates' RFID Solutions--which include EPC Manager and Integration Manager for RFID--to capture and track the unique event data, provide flexible reader support and automatically identify and route RFID data.
"RFID technology is an important emerging technology and Manhattan Associates' technical expertise is a critical success factor in this project," says Indiana University's assistant professor Dennis Groth, who advised the Informatics students. "The students are learning a tremendous amount from their interaction with the people from Manhattan Associates."
"iCycle is an inspired approach for taking RFID beyond the classroom," said Davison Schopmeyer, Manhattan Associates' executive director, professional services. "The project not only shows that the students understand the capabilities and benefits of the technology but also serves as a support for the official race times and introduces a growing technology to the community in a fun, memorable way. Many people have heard of RFID--now they will actually see it in action and further understand what this technology can offer."
About the Indiana University School of Informatics
The Indiana University School of Informatics--the first School of its kind in the nation--offers a unique, interdisciplinary curriculum that focuses on developing specialized skills and knowledge of information technology. The School has a variety of undergraduate degrees and specialized master's and doctorate degrees in bioinformatics, chemical informatics, health informatics, human-computer interaction, laboratory informatics, new media and computer science. Each degree is an interdisciplinary endeavor that combines course work and field experiences from a traditional subject area or discipline with intensive study of information and technology. For more information, visit the School's Web sites: www.informatics.indiana.edu; www.informatics.iupui.edu and www.informatics.iusb.edu.
About Manhattan Associates, Inc.
Manhattan Associates is a leading supply chain solutions provider. The company's supply chain planning, supply chain execution, business intelligence and business process platform capabilities enable its more than 1200 customers worldwide to enhance profitability, performance and competitive advantage. For more information, please visit www.manh.com.
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