ThingMagic, Inc. (www.thingmagic.com), a leading developer of RFID technology, announced the Mercury4 RFID reader has received Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) certification for EPC Generation 2 in South Korea, a nation that has been leading Asian adoption of RFID. ThingMagic resellers in South Korea have numerous deployments underway, e.g. Major Korean Airlines and High Security Government Offices, POSCO and Casinos, working with ThingMagic reseller partner SONTEC, Inc.

The EPC Generation 2-certified Mercury4 reader is now available for sale in South Korea via all ThingMagic authorized resellers, i.e. CIT Co., M/A-COM (part of Tyco Electronics), SONTEC, and Ubi-Tech. The Mercury4 reader can read all EPC Generation 2 tags, is remotely upgradeable to read other and future protocols, and is certified to operate in all three Generation 2 modes, including Dense Reader Mode (DRM).

“South Korea has been a leader among Asian nations in the adoption of RFID, so we dedicated a ThingMagic team to ensure the Mercury4 reader is compliant with the certification requirements there. With the Mercury4 now certified for use in South Korea, we saw increased demand through our resellers, which each specialize in RFID,” said Kevin Ashton, vice president, Marketing, for ThingMagic. “The South Korean market is a critical proving ground for RFID vendors, and we expect it will be a significant source of revenue over time, especially given our early entry into the market.”

Ashton, previously co-founder and executive director of MIT’s Auto-ID Center, is a keynote speaker at the RFID/USN Korea 2006 conference underway this week. For more information, attendees can visit ThingMagic at Booth #916.

“Adoption of RFID is accelerating in South Korea, and our customers are requesting the best RFID products available. We readily recommend the ThingMagic Mercury4 reader due to its unsurpassed performance and low cost,” said Mr. Jack Choi, CEO and President at CIT Co., one of the largest automatic identification vendors in Korea. “As the RFID market grows, and our customers apply RFID to many different uses, CIT Co. will apply its expanding RFID expertise and that of our world class partners like ThingMagic, to ensure successful deployments.”

“Demand is growing for advanced, accurate and agile RFID readers here, among a variety of applications in government, retail, aerospace, and manufacturing. Our customers require the best RFID solutions, and ThingMagic’s Mercury4 is a perfect match for their deployments,” said Se Soon Park, Sales Director RFID Business Division at SONTEC, a leading RFID solutions company.

RFID solutions in Korea using ThingMagic Mercury readers are only available from ThingMagic-authorized resellers CIT Co., M/A-COM, SONTEC and Ubi-Tech.