The widespread deployment of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology is expected to have a "major impact" on enterprise networks, newly published research has claimed.

The success of RFID deployments is likely to be linked to a network's ability to handle the data intelligently and securely, according to the IDC research.

IDC's report, commissioned by Cisco, predicts that RFID will have a significant impact on enterprise networks not just because of the number of tags involved, but because of the amount of data each tag could hold and the number of times it is scanned during transit or processing.

"RFID system expansion is inevitable, as proliferation throughout the supply chain is a core premise for the realisation of system benefits," explained Duncan Brown, UK consulting director at IDC and author of the report.

"It is important for organisations to consider the impact on network infrastructure at the beginning of an RFID rollout, and to build in scalability from the start. Adjusting the network design retrospectively will be complex and expensive."

The study warned that organisations need to take action to ensure that networks are up to the task of handling large-scale RFID roll-outs before they happen.

In addition, the analysis stated that enterprise networks supporting RFID will need to incorporate intelligence and storage capabilities at the network edge, along with integrated management and security at all levels from the RFID layer up to the business process layer of the infrastructure.