There are plenty of reasons facility executives sometimes refer to new technologies as “bleeding edge.” No one wants to be the one stuck explaining why some promising new product isn’t delivering the savings it was supposed to or has to be replaced years before the end of its expected life. So, for anyone intrigued by the benefits of wireless technologies, two recent developments are worth noting. They are examples of the kind of work that is helping to smooth the way for future wireless applications. Item No. 1 comes from the Zigbee Alliance, made up of companies working on wireless mesh products using a common standard. The group just announced the first set of products certified as being interoperable under the standard. To be certified, products must pass tests by independent labs designed to ensure that products will be interoperable with other certified products in Zigbee networks. Building automation is one of the key markets being targeted by the Zigbee Alliance for product development.The second development is a report of a field test of wireless monitoring. The project, led by FIATECH, a consortium of organizations interested in spurring use of advanced building technologies, used wireless devices to monitor strains caused by cold weather in steel beams. The monitoring took place last winter during construction of the Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, D.C. The project improved construction results and provided lessons for the use of wireless technology, says FIATECH.The FIATECH project is part of its Smart Chips initiative, which examines RFID devices that are on the market or ready to go to market and that can be used for building construction and operations purposes. An electronic version of the steel-beam-monitoring study is free to FIATECH members and $75 to others.