The RFID market has taken its licks over the past few years for a certain lack of focus, as tag vendors and application developers chart new terrain in various markets outside manufacturing, and the various pieces of the deployment puzzle — tags, readers, applications, and data acquisition platforms — have remained a mostly à la carte menu of options.

Reva Systems is looking to change that, and its new CEO says partnerships are one key step along that journey. And $5 million in fresh financing won’t hurt.

Bruce Berger took the reins at Reva in April, backed by the company’s venture investors, a roster that includes Charles River Ventures, North Bridge Venture Partners, Cisco, and SAP Ventures. Berger said his relationship with Ashley Stephenson, who founded Reva and whom Berger replaced as CEO, is strong, and that Berger was installed in the corner office to “make sure Reva is heading in the right direction.”

That direction is multi-pronged, he said. Reva wants to elevate the status of its Tag Acquisition Processor (TAP) technology from RFID data collection to RFID application platform. Berger also wants to work internally and with partners to develop discrete applications for the healthcare and retail markets, and expand TAP’s core capabilities as a computing platform. The infusion of capital that accompanied Berger’s appointment will help fund these goals, as well as expand Reva’s market presence through integrators and resellers.

In that vein, a recent partnership has opened a new avenue for Reva, as its TAP technology is now integrated with AeroScout’s MobileView software for RFID-based asset tracking. Berger characterized the pact as a promising one and said it will likely play well in the healthcare market.

As for RFID demand among manufacturers, he conceded that it is “lagging.” It will take some interest from the automation vendors of the world to kick-start RFID in manufacturing settings, he believes. But he also said earlier questions about the mechanics of the technology — for example, can I get the right read points and will it handle the volume of material I need? — have mostly disappeared. In their wake, a new set of concerns holds sway.

“I think we’re moving from that to how to deploy it and integrate it into business processes effectively,” Berger said. Thus, the market has progressed past one tipping point and now finds itself at what may be the final hurdle. People accept that RFID is a sound technology, Berger said; they just need help defining and proving the use case in their business.

As Reva considers the future of the RFID market, it is also weighing its own prospects. Asked whether there’s a stand-alone future for a provider of RFID plumbing, Berger said the RFID market is a few years away from an integrated technology stack. At the same time, he characterized an IPO or an acquisition

by a larger vendor as attractive options for Reva.