Universal Postal Union Specifies Alien Technology(R) Tags in High-Profile, Global Postal Application

MORGAN HILL, CA--(Marketwire - October 13, 2009) - In one of the world's most high-profile and relevant RFID postal applications, AIDA Centre and Alien team up to provide a complete solution for the Universal Postal Union's (UPU) 21 member country quality efficiency program.

Explains Joan Pons, Managing Director of the AIDA Centre: "The Universal Postal Union recently issued a tender to upgrade its existing RFID control technology, used to measure mail delivery efficiencies throughout their global postal network. AIDA Centre designed a quality control process based on a custom postal design, covering the main UPU mail workflow requirements. AIDA Centre is pleased to have secured the integration portion of the project. The application involves placement of Alien UHF tags within thousands of test-delivery envelopes which are subsequently circulated throughout various post offices around the world. The tagged envelopes are then read at distinct locations and the efficiency of the postal network is then measured and quantified. The main objective being to identify potentially slow mail routes and bottlenecks to provide quality control enhancements in order to streamline the processes -- so consistent tag reads are critical to the entire operation."

Adds Stephen Crocker, Alien EMEA Sales/Channels Director: "The UPU and AIDA Centre specified the most versatile and best performing RFID Gen 2 inlay in the marketplace today, as recently validated by 3rd party inlay benchmark reports such as those published by German EECC." Crocker continued: "Alien has been involved in several other postal applications including a major Middle Eastern project mailbox tagging application. We view the postal arena as a very progressive market and we are honored to play a key role in this high-profile application."

Mr. Pons summarizes, "AIDA Centre conducted exhaustive comparative inlay analysis involving numerous UHF/EPC compliant Class 1 Gen 2 vendors and we quickly reached the conclusion that the Alien tags provided the best read range and most importantly, the most consistent read performance in this challenging postal environment."

About AIDA Centre:

AIDA Centre S.L., a Spain-based company established in 2004, is dedicated to designing and marketing solutions and projects based on RFID technology. The company was created as an initiative of the local government's innovation section, the Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation, which identified RFID technology as being of strategic importance for a number of industries with roots firmly established in Spain. For more information, visit http://www.aidacentre.com/

About UPU:

Established in 1874, the Universal Postal Union, with headquarters in Berne, Switzerland, is the primary forum for cooperation among international postal services. With 191 member countries, this specialized agency of the United Nations fulfils an advisory, mediating and liaison role, and renders technical assistance where needed. It sets the rules for international mail exchanges and makes recommendations to stimulate growth in mail volumes and to improve the quality of service for customers. For more information, visit http://www.upu.int/

About Alien Technology

Alien Technology is a leading provider of UHF RFID products and services, including RFID ICs, inlays, readers, and RFID education. Alien is headquartered in Morgan Hill, California, with its subsidiaries Alien Technology Asia in South Korea and Quatrotec, in Millbrae, California. The RFID Solutions Center is located in the Dayton, Ohio region. Alien maintains sales offices in the US, Europe, and Asia.

Learn more about Alien's award-winning Higgs™-3 RFID IC, our performance-leading Squiggle® inlay product line, and the renowned RFID Academy at: www.AlienTechnology.com.

Alien, Alien Technology, the Alien logo, Higgs, and Squiggle are trademarks or registered trademarks of Alien Technology Corporation in the United States and other countries.

Contact Information: Contact: Victor Vega Alien Technology Marketing Director Phone: 408-782-3930