RFID Interop Still A Mess

from the hurray-for-standards-processes dept

The two biggest embarassments in the wireless space right now are UWB and RFID. Both are new technologies that have tremendous potential to be disruptive -- and both are completely bogged down in standards battles that are little more than greedy maneuverings over who gets their patents into the standards in order to open up a big fat tollbooth on the new technology. In both cases, if these standards battles were worked out earlier, we'd already be seeing much more innovative offerings. Instead, we see press releases and angry statements aimed at each other. While the UWB situation has gotten much worse in the last month with yet another attempt at a standard, it looks like some of the folks in the RFID world at least recognize that there's a problem. Of course, that's not going to stop the greedy parties from slowing everything down. About the only useful thing that has come out of both standards bodies so far is a recognition of the limitations of current standards processes.