Wal-Mart made RFID front page news in 2003 when it issued a mandate requiring its top 100 suppliers to attach RFID tags positively identifying all cases and pallets by Jan. 1, 2005 . Wal-Mart has since relaxed its requirements allowing suppliers more time. But industry experts think eventually such tagging will become mandatory with suppliers to all major retailers.

See Light pen.

A device that plugs in between a keyboard and a terminal or PC. Allows data to be entered either by the keyboard or an attached scanner.

A compliance marking term. Warehouse Information Network Standard. Defines EDI transaction types for the warehouse industries.

Work-In-Progress/Process. An application using bar code totes and bar code scanners to track lots through a manufacturing operation.

Write Once Read Many. A tag that a user can write to just once.

Distance from which data on an RFID tag can be written or changed.

An OS/400 program that serves as a link between an output queue and a printer. Normally the writer is started automatically at OS/400 IPL time.