. The concern, however, is that containers opened in transit may carry weapons or other destructive cargo and, by the time the tampered-with container is detected, the contents are already in-port. A number of firms-including Hi-G-Tek, Savi Technology, and E. J. Brooks-build RFID-based electronic seals for containers that not only show that the container door has been opened, but also transmit the fact to a shipboard reader, which then notifies authorities SO that the ship can be intercepted and searched before entering port. Figure 6-14 The Long Beach Harbor Container Port Downloaded from Digital Engineering Library @ McGraw-Hill (www.digitalengineeringlibrary.com) Copyright © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies. All rights reserved. Any use is subject to the Terms of Use as given at the website. Access Technologies Access Technologies Department of Defense and RFID The Department of Defense (DoD) is extremely interested in RFID appli- cations. In a November 2003 summit on the technology, the DoD con- firmed its commitment to RFID. The organization has mandated that all suppliers place passive RFID tags on products at the lowest possible level that is cost-effective by January 2005; placement may be at the individual product, pallet, or case level, and will vary somewhat by prod- uct type. The DoD's primary interest in RFID is based on its move toward what it calls knowledge-enabled logistics. While the military is a unique "busi- ness," it still relies on effective supply-chain management to get the job done. Naturally, RFID lends itself to improved supply-chain processes and faster deployment of resources to a forward theater. Frankly, the similarities between military and civilian requirements are far greater than the differences; consider the quote in the following sidebar. Network Impacts Today, RFID's widespread implementation is somewhat limited by the cost of the tags-roughly $0.50 each, which means that no one is going to put them on a $0.30 toothbrush. However, it is widely believed that within a year or SO