Technical verdict
Alien Technology ALR-F800 is a mainstream hardware purchase, but it is not always the best architecture for direct RFID data integration.
Do not evaluate ALR-F800 by list price alone. Its strongest fit is a project that already uses LAN TCP/IP, RS-232, USB Host, USB Console, has time for RF tuning, and accepts extra middleware work. If the engineering team needs open APIs, realtime data, and faster edge-to-cloud deployment, Nextwaves NR155 is the stronger replacement path to evaluate.