One of the columns that I always find time to read -- even if it takes me a few days to get to -- is Mark Roberti's Opinion column over at RFID Journal. I always learn something new or incredibly useful.

His latest column of 27 September 2004 is no exception. Roberti announced that the RFID Journal is funding an independent testing lab for RFID products. He writes:

"More than a year ago, I recognized the need for an independent testing lab. Not a lab that puts RFID tags on a company's products and tests them for compliance with mandates from that company's customers. Not a lab that tests conformance with a standard or certifies interoperability. But a lab that provides baseline data about the performance of RFID tags and readers. A lab that can produce independent reports that implementers can rely on to quickly determine which tags and readers are among the best for a specific application.

Last week, RFID Journal announced the creation of the RFID Alliance Lab, an independent, not-for-profit testing facility that will provide objective Benchmarking reports on RFID equipment. The lab will based at and run by the University of Kansas's Information and Telecommunication Technology Center (ITTC), and it will be supported by Rush Tracking Systems, an RFID systems integrator based in Lenexa, Kan., near Kansas City."

The lab is a much-needed thing right now when the RFID equipment landscape is evolving so rapidly with so many players. As Roberti points out, the RFID Journal plans to sell research reports that result from the lab's testing, so the testing results will be publicly available for those purchase it.

The column does not talk about testing middleware software at this new lab. That, in my opinion, is another much needed service.