# Product Overview

# Introduction and Roadmap

The following sections describe the contents, audience for, and organization of this guide— WebLogic RFID Edge Server Product Overview.

- Document Scope and Audience on page 1-1
- Guide to This Document on page 1-1
- Related Documentation on page 1-2
- New Features in This Release

## Document Scope and Audience

This document provides descriptive information about WebLogic RFID Edge Server, including:

- Use cases and key benefits
- Component architecture and functional overview
- RFID concepts and terminology
- Developer and RFID resources

The intended audience is developers, system administrators, operations staff, support engineers, and other personnel with an interest in WebLogic RFID Edge Server.

## Guide to This Document

This document is organized as follows:

- This chapter, Introduction and Roadmap, describes the scope of this guide and lists related documentation.
- Understanding WebLogic RFID Edge Server, provides an overview of WebLogic RFID Edge Server.
- WebLogic RFID Edge Server Architecture, provides a functional overview of the RFID Edge Server and describes its component architecture.
- RFID Terminology, defines key terms and acronyms.

## Related Documentation

This document is a part of the WebLogic RFID Edge Server documentation set. The other documents are:

- Installing WebLogic RFID Edge Server describes how to install and configure WebLogic RFID Edge Server.
- Using the RFID Edge Server Administration Console describes how to use the RFID Administration Console to configure ECSpecs, ECReports, RFID devices, filters, and workflows.
- Using the Reader Simulator describes how to use the reader simulator software included with RFID Edge Server. The Reader Simulator minimally simulates a ThingMagic Mercury4 RFID reader.
- Programming with the ALE and ALEPC APIs describes the Application Level Events (ALE) and Application Level Events Programming Cycle (ALEPC) programming interfaces (APIs) that you use to create applications that interact with WebLogic RFID Edge Server by reading and writing electronic product code (EPC) tags.
- RFID Reader Reference describes how to configure the RFID devices supported by the RFID Edge Server.
- Workflow Reference describes how to configure and use the workflow modules included with the WebLogic RFID Edge Server.
- ALE and ALEPC Javadoc provides reference documentation for the ALE and ALEPC Java packages that are provided with the WebLogic RFID Edge Server software.

## New Features in This Release

WebLogic RFID Edge Server 2.2 includes support for the following new RFID devices and features:

- Generic Barcode Reader—supports most bar code readers. .
- IER—supports the IER SmartController reader.
- Wavetrend—supports reading Wavetrend active tags.
- Provides enhanced support for Printronix SL5000r compatable and Zebra R110Xi printers including variable substitution in label templates..
- Provides enhanced support for Tagsys L100 and L200 readers.

In addition to the new drivers and driver enhancements, the licensing format has changed.

Licenses now restrict the number of devices that the Edge Server supports and there are now only two types of licenses available. The following table describes the two licenses.

Table 1-1 WebLogic RFID Edge Server License File Types
License Type | Description
--- | ---
Evaluation | Used in a development environment to evaluate the software. Supports unlimited logical devices. Expires after 30 days.
Production License | Supports a specific number of logical devices in a production environment.