Just 12.4 per cent of companies in the western European manufacturing, retail/wholesale and logistics sectors were piloting or planning to pilot RFID in 2005, newly published research has revealed.

According to an IDC study, some 5.1 per cent of companies are currently implementing or planning to implement the technology.

"RFID is still in its early stages," said Giuliana Folco, research director for European vertical markets at IDC.

"However, over 17.5 per cent of companies in manufacturing, retail/wholesale and logistics are piloting/implementing RFID projects, and more are to come in these sectors and in several other industries."

The study showed that RFID-compliant applications and servers are the key IT areas that require investment in more than 50 per cent of companies interviewed by IDC. This was particularly true for discrete and process manufacturing.

Warehousing, logistics management and distribution activities will be most affected by RFID, the analyst firm predicted.

IDC's report was based on the results of its European Vertical Market Survey and focused on RFID adoption in retail/wholesale, manufacturing and transportation/ logistics companies with more than 20 employees.