Sun Opens RFID Test Center

Sun Microsystems on Wednesday opened a facility in Dallas in which it will work with product vendors to test radio-frequency-identification compliance and deployment.

RFID, which retailer Wal-Mart Stores is requiring its top 100 suppliers to implement by Jan. 1, 2005, for tracking and inventory control, is a major play for Sun, which has aggressively marketed its Java-based software as a cornerstone of RFID.

The Sun RFID test center is designed to be a controlled environment in which to simulate scenarios within a distribution center or warehouse, and allows companies eager to move on RFID to perform full-scale compliance testing and model-tag deployments, said Sun execs before the center's grand opening.

The center includes back-end and RFID equipment--ranging from tags and readers to wireless infrastructure and warehouse-management software--from Sun and its partners. The latter include ADT Security Services, i2, Nortel, ProdexNet, Texas Instruments, and Venture Research.

The Dallas area is a hotbed for RFID testing. Last week, Wal-Mart began accepting RFID-tagged goods from eight manufacturers at its Sanger, Texas, regional distribution center, located 50 miles north of Dallas. The tagged products will be used in a test involving seven Wal-Mart stores in the Dallas metro area.