GS1 System

EPCglobal Network™

The EPCglobal Network™ is a set of technologies that enables immediate and automatic identification of items in the supply chain anywhere in the world. Importantly, the Network allows trading partners to exchange such information about the goods they ship among themselves. In that way, the EPCglobal Network™ makes organizations more effective by uncovering inefficiencies or reducing such eternal issues as counterfeiting, internal theft, and other drains on productivity and profitability.

The EPCglobal Network™ consists of several components that are designed to work together to give maximum visibility to a supply chain. The components are made up of the Electronic Product Code (EPC), tags, readers, and software that helps all of the pieces communicate in a common “language.”

The EPC (Electronic Product Code) sits on a RFID tag comprised of a silicon chip connected to an antenna, which is physically attached to an item, a case of items, or a pallet of cases of items. The tag "communicates" its unique number to a reader through radio frequency.

The reader then passes the number to a computer or local application system, known as the Object Name Service (ONS). The ONS tells the computer systems where to locate information on the secure network about the object carrying an EPC, including, for example, when the item was produced, and where.

EPC Information Services (EPCIS) provide a common set of data elements, a common language for communication (Physical Markup Language, or PML), and a set of defined messages for trading partners to use for storing, accessing, and communicating data on objects moving in the supply chain. The key to these information services is the EPC held in the RFID tag on each object.

The primary vehicle for data exchange between EPC global Subscribers in the EPCglobal Network is the EPC Information Services. EPCIS encompasses both interfaces for data exchange and specifications of the data itself.

EPCIS data is information that trading partners share to gain more insight into what is happening to physical objects in locations not under their direct control. For most industries using the EPCglobal Network, EPCIS data can be Static and Transactional Data.

EPC-IS Middleware is a software technology that acts as the central nervous system of the EPCglobal Network. The EPC-IS Middleware manages and moves information in a way that does not overload existing corporate and public networks.

This technology helps businesses minimize extra costs from their internal operations, from such issues as internal theft, out-of-stocks, counterfeiting, and other issues that plague them. This in turn drives down the cost of doing business, which helps businesses succeed while applying downward pressure on consumer prices.

The GS1 EPC Network still needs to find a way to exchange information along broader and different pathways than traditional e-commerce. For this end, the Discovery Services Standards is currently in development by the EPCglobal Data Discovery Working Group. “Discovery” is finding and obtaining all relevant visibility data, of which a party is authorized, when some of that data is under the control of other parties with whom no prior business relationship exists.

The standards for the Discovery Services are currently being worked on.

The GS1 EPCglobal Network is a community of trading partners engaged in the capture, sharing and discovery of Electronic Product Code-related data using EPCglobal-certified hardware and software components and standard interfaces.