The EPC namespace and the Internet of Things (I-o-T) - PART 2
By Philippe GAUTIER on Monday 5 May 2008, 17:25 - Web 3.0 / Internet of Things / Internet des Objets - Permalink
This memo is a clarification following a 24th april 2008 roundtable at the EU commission. It enlightens the former post ''The EPC namespace and the Internet of Things (I-o-T) - PART 1'' (click).
EPC_Namespace-V3_iot.pdfAlso available in PDF format (click)
In the former presentation, « Opening the EPC Namespace » was not considered as a technical issue to be solved :
- The EPC Naming space is already technically « open » (as mentioned on slide 4) and able to be used with many other naming schemes (DUNS, EHIBCC, PURLS, etc.)
However the question was about the control of the issuing of EPC numbers (current naming structure) in an EPCGlobal environment : I.E. assignment of parts of the namespace (ranges of numbers) to others entities (Today 100% Gs1/EPCGlobal : fee based)
- For other entities to be able to issue EPC# to their communities /
customers
CURRENT SCHEME : 
ALTERNATIVE 1 : 
ALTERNATIVE 2 : 
CONCLUSION :
Current EPCGlobal scheme is immature and only addresses B2B
issues such as the existing supply chains (does not facilitates quick adoption
based on merchandising, marketing, consumer apps.)
Alternative 1 is acceptable but will slow down adoption of
EPCGlobal standards since B2B supply chains (EPCGlobal based) and downstream
part of the value chains will not be based on 100% similar schemes (Discovery
services)
Alternative 2 has open questions to be solved but will help
EPCGlobal standards adoption if EPCGlobal’s scope is widened from B2B to a
B2Any perspective
Maintaining a distinction between B2B (GS1/EPCGlobal) and « rest of
world » could lead Industries to use different « name issuing
entities » (different from EPCGlobal). Consumer is generally the end user
of those manufactured products : he is also a citizen and….
…. the ultimate arbiter will be THE « Citizen », not the
industry…..