Zebra Technologies said this week that its R110Xi radio-frequency identification printer-encoder is now XML-enabled. The company claims it's the first vendor to develop and bring to market an Extensible Markup Language bar-code and RFID smart-label printer designed for companies using enterprise resource planning, warehousing, and supply-chain and logistics software.

Software companies such as Oracle and SAP have begun to develop and build into their software XML-based platforms to support customers either implementing RFID to improve business or required to meet RFID compliance mandates. XML increasingly is being used to provide adaptable information identification for the open exchange of data between applications, peripherals, and trading partners, according to Zebra. As a result, XML is becoming the standard for machine-to-machine transactions and is gaining use in EDI, ERP, and manufacturing systems.

According to the company, adopting Zebra's XML-enabled printers for enterprise and business-process-improvement applications, companies can tap into open standards that can speed integration of on-demand bar-code and RFID label printing, and eliminate or reduce costs for middleware, licensing, print-server hardware, and maintenance fees.