RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) is a technology develped at MIT that has been touted as the replacement for UPC codes. Wal-Mart has announced that its top 100 suppliers must be complicant with RFID technology on the case and pallet level by January 2005 and that all of its suppliers mst be compliant vy the end of 2006. The U.S. DoD is expected to make a similar announcement this Fall. Manufacturers will be required to place tiny RFID tags on their merchandise before it is shipped. When it reaches its destination, an RFID reader at the dock door will read the tags, and the information will go into an inventory control system This is a supply chain management system - basically an extension of existing ERP solutions.