Technology for the greater good - that is what gives Ms Lim Peck Hui, Managing Director of Tunity Technologies the greatest satisfaction from her work. For this dynamic mother of three, after almost eight years of "living and breathing RFID", she admits that it is wonderful to see her endeavours translate into something useful to society.

RFID refers to Radio Frequency Identification. It is a contact-less form of Automatic Data Collection that can be applied for identification, track and trace, data storage solutions and a myriad of forms for various systems and needs.

The project that inspired her (later) to create Tunity Technologies was the behemoth task of fully integrating the RFID library management system for the Singapore National Library Board, in her previous employment with Singapore Technologies. To understand the scale of this operation, one can easily glean an insight from her good-natured remark, "We had nine months to prepare and were at the library day in, day out, working like librarians."

While book drops at the library used to be dummy points, the introduction of RFID technology has created a seamless system that allows real-time data collection of book borrowing, returning and even tracing. It is easy to imagine the real-time benefits that a knowledge-based society can reap from its success today.

Together with Mr Chung Say Kin, Director of Tunity Technologies who is also the technical mastermind behind the operations, Peck Hui talks about Tunity Technologies' milestones and what it has set its sights on for the future.

Q:  Give us another example where RFID integration was effectively employed.

A: One meaningful and successful project that we undertook was when we applied RFID technology to fight SARS last year. We provided technical consultancy and hardware for Alexandra Hospital and the National University Hospital to facilitate contact tracing. The system could trace every single person who came into contact with a suspect patient very quickly.  Whereas, manual tracing could take up to two days. When the project was activated, we responded within days, for this socially important effort.  My team and I were down at the hospital in protective gear to set up the system. At the end of the day, it was very rewarding.

Q: One very interesting recent project was the use of RFID technology to track and locate more than 10,000 delegates at the Global Entrepolis @ Singapore 2003 conference. How did that go?

A: Each delegate was given a credit card-sized RFID-enabled tag that interfaced with 60 readers placed around the building.  Thus, each delegate could be physically located at any time. It was a very challenging project as no one has tried to implement Active RFID (long-range capability) in a conference before.

We were very fortunate to have visionary customers like the Economic Development Board (EDB). The difficulty of such an operation is often the co-ordination of data transfer between parties. Comparatively speaking, the technology part was very simple. It was a good learning experience for everyone.  Overall, by the end of the six-day event, everything went well.

The advantage of using RFID is that we can go beyond just simply tracking people. We can do quick head counts, assess attendance for certain events, tally visits to certain booths, and facilitate information management and profiling.

More than half of the delegates tried out the system, and some expressed amazement at what it could do. We are planning to deploy the system again at the next Global Entrepolis conference.

Q: What has your experience in penetrating overseas markets been like?

A: We reached out to some overseas markets in Hong Kong, Philippines and Vietnam through our partners. Others in the region include Thailand, Malaysia, China and Korea. The solutions are mainly targeted for security and logistics applications.

As we built up our reputation, some customers approached us at their own accord. At the same time, we are very proactive in looking for opportunities. For example, different ways to tie up with more partners. We may not have a full-time presence in overseas markets, but we are committed to provide good support for our clients. Our partners help to extend our reach to these markets.

One useful strategy is to make products that are simple to sell, so that the need for after-sales services is minimised. We make an effort to understand every single market, in order to develop a win-win situation for everyone. We always upkeep our clients' long-term interests, for lasting relationships.

Q: What are Tunity Technologies' plans for the future?

A: We plan to identify more partners and to grow the business at a sustainable rate. Also, we're coming up with better products, like a very low cost antenna design that can be used for different applications.

In 2004, we intend to roll out the RFID products that we had developed last year. These include the multi-functional station aimed at smaller libraries and offices. These smaller kiosks incorporate services like loan and return, enquiries and file management into a single stand.

We have a "ruggedised" active wristband tag with anti-tamper capabilities that can be used to track prison inmates and detainees.  This has been proven in actual use.  For the logistics industry, we have developed a low cost shipping container tag capable to detect cutting and removal of the container seal.

In summary, we're always looking for auto identification and data capture problems, so that we can develop effective solutions for them.