Blue Vector rolled out its “serialization station,” a modular unit that can be reconfigured for a retail pharmacy store or distributor or manufacturing conveyor line, to read and confirm serial data (which in turn can be matched with pedigrees). “Note that it’s called a ‘serialization’ station, and not a ‘pedigree’ station,” says John Beans, VP of marketing for the firm. The Blue Vector unit is capable of reading 2D barcode, HF and UHF RFID frequencies. Beans says that pharma interest in the technology continues; there is an “inevitability factor” in the march toward serialization, which will ultimately provide for pedigree data management as well as supply chain improvement.

Meanwhile, IBM Sensors and Actuators Div. announced a new customer of its RFID Information Service, which is designed to capture, store and deliver serial data while making use of the EPCIS standard of the EPCglobal/GS1 Healthcare Group. In an unusual centralization of a serialization and pedigree implementation, IBM is the one-stop shop providing the software, the hardware and the systems integration for Golden State Medical Supply (GSMS), a medium-sized repackager and distributor based in Ventura, CA.

The GSMS project will include the IBM Websphere RFID Center, a data repository, the IBM Premises Server, a communications software application, and IBM System X servers, the actual computers. “This end-to-end offering is somewhat unique, but I want to emphasize that a customer can get as much as, or as little, of the services available through IBM,” says John Del Pizzo, solutions executive at IBM. RFID and 2D labels and readers come from IBM business partners.

According to Del Pizzo, the California delay clarifies the picture that what is most important about securing drug supply chains is serialization. “When you get serious about serialization, you realize that there will be lots of workflow effects, and that you will capture significant business value in your supply chain,” he says.