What: The 2010 Global Alien User and Partner Conference
Where: Dayton Marriott, 1414 S. Patterson Blvd.
When: Two full days starting Tuesday, March 9. On-site registration begins at 7:15 a.m. Tuesday. Online registration is encouraged.
Who is encouraged to attend: C-level managers, VPs
Cost, online registration and more: www.alientechnology.com
SPRINGBORO — Blink and you may miss the next development in radio frequency identification (RFID).
The fast pace of change is one reason Alien Technology — a Morgan Hill, Calif.-based RFID technology and product developer — is hosting its first two-day Global Alien User and Partner Conference at the Dayton Marriott starting Tuesday, March 9.
RFID consists of ways to track inventory and property wirelessly via radio waves. Consider: Even in the midst of a fierce recession, the industry has introduced or refined:
• Smaller RFID inlays with greater memory and sensitivity.
• Evidence tracking technology for courts and law enforcement.
• Asset tags applicable to a greater variety of items, including folders and blueprints.
Alien, which for four years has had a “solutions center” in Springboro, is inviting 19 industry experts from around the world to talk to users and vendors about these changes and more, said Patti Blessing, general manager of the solutions center at 3001 W. Tech Blvd.
“We’re trying to highlight all of these niche areas that are coming to maturation,” Blessing said.
“You’re seeing a wide diversity of applications,” especially in asset management, said Victor Vega, a spokesman for Alien.
As of Thursday morning, more than 130 people had signed up for the conference, Blessing said.
Those with RFID have been able to better manage inventory levels through the recession and through the slow uptick some sectors are starting to see, Vega said.
Alien itself is part of the industry-wide churn. Only this week, the company announced a capital infusion of $10.9 million, led by existing company investors Advanced Equities, New Enterprise Associates and Sunbridge Partners.
Worldwide, Alien has between 40-50 employees, with 15 of them in Springboro.
Blessing would not say how many employees the local center will employ in the future, but Alien’s goal is to grow, she said.
The recession, Vega said, “certainly took its toll on the industry.”
Up to the fourth quarter of 2008, privately held Alien saw a straight record of quarterly growth, Vega said. In 2009, “We started to see a sluggish turn in the marketplace,” he said.
However, in the latter two quarters of 2009, the company saw growth of 50 percent quarter over quarter, he added. He declined to give precise figures.
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