Opinion Rush to usher in world standard By Dr. Song Kwan-ho/President of NIDA Ubiquitous is a word to indicate omnipresence that exists anytime and anywhere. It means that necessary information is offered through connection to a computer network regardless of space or time, ultimately enhancing the quality of a man's life. Presently the actualization of a Ubiquitous society is not a far-off future to us and in its center there is the Ubiquitous Sensor Network (USN) based on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). RFID means technology that uses antennas for the purpose of information transmission, embedding semiconductor chips for the sake of reading or writing information. In a Ubiquitous society in which information can be provided by transcending time and space, we receive the location of work and related information through a cellular phone in a museum. It is possible for visually handicapped to also know surrounding road conditions or the location of a street crossing by deciphering location through sensors buried in the ground. Like this, the real goal of Ubiquitous is to seek a meaningful relation between a person, matter and location through technology and to utilize it for people's benefit. Big influence on society at large Currently, a whole raft of countries including the United States, Japan and Europe which have recognized Ubiquitous as the future of informatization technology are devoting many efforts for the development of RFID technology. Moreover they are taking much action by means of related organizations to get the initiative in connection with world standardization through their technology. Herein, the government is unfolding its organic activities between educational, industrial and laboratory organizations with priority given to the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) and the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MOCIE) for the development of RFID associated technology and to be recognized in the international arena. In addition, the government is devoting efforts to awaken interest about the RFID industry or to test business feasibility through a pilot project with industry circles. We understand that right now, diverse institutions such as EPCglobal, ISO/IEC, u-ID Center, and VeriSign have research under way and are striving to standardize the code system as well as related technologies. At home, mobile RFID standardization is being developed to provide information which is necessary in seeking content online or on location centering around the Mobile RFID Forum. RFID-related research which is progressing in several institutions has been used in limited fields such as ID confirmation, entry and exit control and electronic payment confirmation. In the coming years, RFID is forecast to exert a big influence on society at large as it is applied to entire industry fields like logistics, manufacturing, and service. Under such an understanding, IT advanced countries such as the United States, Europe and Japan are nationally supporting RFID development already and Korea also has projects to develop or test technology with priority given to the MIC and MOCIE. Growth possibility rather than stability It is worth noting that RFID is forecast to be applied to diverse fields including the logistics and circulation field. For instance, the most important thing in supply-network management is to effectively manage a network through which a product is conveyed from a producer through a wholesaler and a retail dealer up to customers. If RFID is applied to this, efficiency will be boosted since real time management of all products is possible through transparent supply network management by pursuing information contained in the tag. By managing a product's flow synthetically like this, a supplier can reduce worthless resource waste since their demand prediction is possible. While a consumer, on the other hand, can decrease unnecessary time searching for the right product and receive a price benefit by means of transparent supply network management. In this way, RFID's application can be forecast in several fields such as library management, warehouse management, logistics and parking management. If recognition rate problems and tag price problems are solved in connection with RFID introduction right now, one will be able to see RFID in diverse places of real life. This is judged to exert a big influence on our society at large. Yet, it is true that current business circles think of RFID as a growth possibility rather than stable growth under way. Since hardware developers that develop readers are no more than 2 to 3 years old in terms of their reader development history, and tag prices are still not economically feasible, the market is not yet being formed. However now that market's high possibility and related technology's study is briskly under way, the period to introduce to the market is expected to come soon. Standardization brings practical usage At present, RFID technology's standardization is under way with priority given to EPCglobal, the Department of Defense and Wal-Mart in the United States, and ISO/IEC, an international standardization organization. At home, technology development as well as standardization are under way centering around governmental institutions like the USN Standardization Forum, National Internet Development Agency of Korea (NIDA), Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) and the Mobile RFID Forum. These organizations are striving to propel domestic and international standardization of Mobile RFID-related technology. The United States is driving forward diverse policies and projects for the sake of RFID utilization with circulation and military goals alongside private companies centering around the Department of Defense. Japan is propelling its Ubiquitous society actualization through IT infrastructure, technology power and capital that is being constructed by means of existing policy through its u-Japan strategy. At home, on one hand, MIC and MOCIE are devising related industry activation with the implementation of a tax benefit policy and pilot projects. Additionally, the government plans to actualize a Ubiquitous world with a u-City construction by encouraging the harmony of the IT industry and construction industry. Several problems have yet to be solved in advance including initial introduction expenses, reader recognition error problems and tag price problems. Nevertheless, a whole raft of advanced countries including the United States and Japan are attempting RFID introduction competitively and striving to usher in this new technology. In the light of the fact that RFID's technology development as well as diverse movements for standardization are becoming more practical through a standardization stage right now, Korea should actively cope with such diverse movement so that we can usher in a Ubiquitous future.