A manufacturer of radio frequency identification (RFID) equipment has filed for an initial public offering with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for approximately $120 million of common stock.

Alien Technology Corp., Morgan Hill, Calif., said Thursday it intends to use the proceeds to fund equipment purchases and tenant improvements for its manufacturing facility, and the remainder for general corporate improvements.

Alien filed a preliminary offering document with the SEC, seeking a Nasdaq listing under the symbol "RFID."

Bear Stearns & Co. Inc., Cowen & Co., Robert W. Baird & Co. and Advanced Equities Inc. are listed as underwriters managing the deal.

Alien makes tags and readers that support several industries from pharmaceutical to retail, such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. For examples, pharmacies and retail stores integrate RFID technology into their supply chain processes to track inventory from suppliers to distribution centers and into stores.

In a separate RFID-related development, Rollin Ford, Wal-Mart's new executive vice president and chief information officer, who previously served as the company's executive vice president of logistics and supply chain, "strongly" endorses <a = "http: www.techweb.com encyclopedia defineterm.jhtml?term="rfid"">RFID

technology at the company's biannual CIO summit, hosted by Wal-Mart in Bentonville on Wednesday, the company said in a prepared statement.