Adobe has just introduced a new service called Adthenticate which could become an essential tool in the online marketing toolkit of top interactive agencies across the land. 

How does it work?

Simple. You just point to an ad on your local computer or a url, choose which IAB standard unit size you are developing for ("IAB 2011 Medium Rectangle, 300x250" for example) and Adthenticate makes sure your ad hits all the standard IAB specs for that unit. 

It spits back a chart like this:

There is also a chart that shows the CPU usage of the banner over time.

Why is this a good thing for you? Because having a simple way for ad traffickers to check ad units before uploading them to your ad server is hell of a lot more efficient than being told by a publisher that your ad doesn't meet specs and having to resubmit everything all over again.

Why is this a good thing for Adobe? Because despite all the hullaballoo about Flash being a dying technology, it's still the format that pretty much every single banner ad on the planet is created (except sometimes GIFs). And with Omniture being one of the best analytics tools out there, Adobe is the leading provider of tools for creating online display advertising. 

Having one more tool that improves the process of creating and delivering ads just makes sense. It's a great tool to enhance your QA process.