RFID Journal LIVE : The Rise of BLE and Specialized IoT

Reflections from RFID Journal LIVE! 2025 on the Rise of BLE and Specialized IoT

June 9, 2025

RFID Journal LIVE! 2025 offered a powerful lens into the current state – and future – of wireless identification technologies. While the event traditionally leans toward passive RFID, this year’s conversations, booth demos, and presentation revealed a broader shift – one toward more adaptable, lower-power, and data-rich technologies designed to meet emerging market needs. 


From our shared vantage point at Identiv and InPlay, the key takeaway was clear. The future of autoID technology isn’t just about identification. It’s also about intelligence – and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is leading the way.

What We Observed: Pressure to Do More, With Less

Across verticals – from healthcare and logistics to retail and manufacturing – attendees voiced a consistent set of challenges. Organizations are under increasing pressure to digitize assets in real time, across complex environments, while keeping costs and infrastructure minimal. Whether tracking temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals, authenticating high-value products, or managing reusable containers, the common thread was a demand for:

  • Lower-cost deployment models

  • Real-time, remote-readable data

  • Infrastructure-light solutions

  • Enhanced environmental sensing

While passive RFID remains foundational – especially for cost-sensitive, high-volume applications – evolving use cases are revealing a growing need for complementary technologies that offer expanded capabilities. This spans BLE, NFC, UHF, HF, and other IoT technologies depending on the application. 

Zooming in: BLE Moves from Alternative to Advantage

One of the most noticeable developments at this year’s show was the rising visibility of BLE-based solutions. We heard it in conversations with system integrators, we saw it in booth demos, and we felt it in the questions being asked by end users.

Why BLE, and why now?

Several factors are converging to drive BLE’s adoption as a more affordable active Real-Time Location System (RTLS) and authentication solution:

  • Decreasing hardware costs: Purpose-built BLE solutions – such as those combining Identiv’s BLE inlay with InPlay’s ultra-low-power BLE NanoBeacon chip – are now cost-effective enough to support not just reusable tags, but even short-term or disposable smart labels in high-volume applications.

  • Flexible infrastructure: BLE technology is already embedded in billions of devices worldwide, including smartphones and Wi-Fi access points, dramatically lowering the cost of deployment.

  • Ease of use: The design simplicity of solutions like InPlay’s NanoBeacon IN100 has enabled developers – even those without direct engineering support – to bring BLE-enabled products to life quickly and effectively.

A Shift Toward Specialized IoT

As BLE rises, it's doing more than complementing RFID. It’s reshaping the design principles of IoT altogether. Increasingly, we’re seeing demand not for generic solutions, but for highly customized, application-specific designs – a movement increasingly referred to as Specialized IoT. 

The reality is that not every asset fits a standard tag. From glass vials and frozen foods to oddly shaped luxury goods and RF-challenging materials, businesses need specialized IoT technologies that are designed for real-world constraints. BLE’s compact form factors, flexible antenna designs, and sensor integration capabilities make it a strong fit for many of these challenges – complementing UHF, HF, and other specialized solutions depending on the use case.

At Identiv, we’re seeing this play out across sectors:

  • In healthcare, where small, sensitive products like prefilled syringes require tags that operate reliably through glass and liquid.

  • In retail and wine authentication, where BLE tags help ensure chain-of-custody integrity and prevent counterfeiting.

  • In cold chain logistics, where integrated sensors deliver real-time temperature and humidity data—something passive RFID struggles to do reliably.

BLE is both enabling this shift and accelerating it. As specialized IoT continues to take hold, we see BLE emerging as one of several foundational technologies – alongside UHF, HF, and NFC – that are making product identification more intelligent and context-aware.

Looking Ahead: What We’re Taking Back to Our Teams

RFID Journal LIVE 2025 reinforced that we are at an inflection point. The lines between RFID, BLE, NFC, and other technologies are blurring – not in a way that dilutes their value, but in a way that forces the industry to think more holistically.

As we return to our respective teams, we're doubling down on a few key areas:

  • Educating the market on BLE’s newfound affordability and versatility

  • Supporting partners in developing application-specific BLE and RFID solutions

  • Continuing to collaborate across the value chain to solve emerging customer problems with flexible, real-world-ready specialized IoT technologies

Most importantly, we left the event energized by the momentum around BLE and the broader movement toward digitizing the hard-to-digitize. It’s not just about knowing where something is anymore. It’s about knowing how it’s doing, where it’s been, and whether it’s been handled properly. That’s the promise of specialized IoT – and BLE is a key technology helping us deliver it.