Headquartered at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a sister lab at the University of Cambridge, the Auto-ID Center is carrying on a scientific tradition that produced the Universal Product Code (bar code) in 1973. Bar code creators predicted that the UPC would evolve into a new market standard in 25 years--and that time has come. We are on the brink of a revolution of "smart products" that will interconnect everyday objects, consumers, and manufacturers in a dynamic cycle of world commerce. In October 1999, the Uniform Code Council (creators of the UPC) joined with MIT, Procter & Gamble, and The Gillette Company to make their vision of forming one seamless global commerce network a reality. Corporate and industrial sponsors have invested their participation and funding on a variety of levels in recognition of their integral role in helping develop a technology that will shape a new world of optimally efficient and beneficial global commerce.