RFID for Data Center Tracking

Want more bang for your IT buck? If a well-documented, less than twelve month ROI is intriguing, or you have skilled resources in your data center or IT organization who you would rather use for value-add services (instead of counting and writing) please download and read ODIN's white paper on Data Center Efficiency created by leveraging new RFID 2.0.

Order Data Center RFID ROI Analysis HERE

ODIN is the world’s leading RFID Company, but few people know that ODIN’s founder Patrick J. Sweeney II began investigating RFID in the late 1990’s as a way to track servers in a high-security data center when he was President & CEO of ServerVault. His extensive data center knowledge led him to develop what is now the leading data center IT asset tracking solution on the market.

The ODIN RFID Data Center solution has a return on investment in less than 12 months. The primary benefits of the system are:

• 15-22% labor reduction in operations expense
• Increased security
• 10x increase in data accuracy by eliminating manual data entry
• Decrease in energy costs by identifying unused assets still drawing power ($2,500/yr/device)
• Easier compliance by having an automated audit trail
• 100% compliance and assurance of decomissioned or destroyed hard drives and servers
• Average 14% reduction in Sarbanes Oxley compliance costs

ODIN’s RFID solution for server and device tracking.

ODIN's turn-key RFID system includes hardware, software, and services. The key to the success of ODIN’s data center tracking solution is the ODIN software and physics knowledge. EasyEdge software agents sit on each device, and allow integration into SAP, Maximo, Remedy, etc. in under a week!

Unlike other companies that focused on the software and because of poor RFID performance were kicked out of clients, our system just works. The ODIN team has leveraged a deep understanding of the physics surrounding radio frequency identification to ensure 99.9% read accuracy. Our heritage born out of MIT's Auto-ID lab give us a deeper understanding of how to make readers work than any other RFID company. Knowing which tag, reader, handheld and table are the right choices for your specific needs is critical to success and reducing support costs for an RFID data center solution.

If you are looking to save money and increase security in your “Lean and green” data center then you need an RFID asset tracing system. Contact one of the data center experts at ODIN who will not only give you the best RFID advice, but speaks the language of the data center as well.

RFID for IT Asset Security

RFID-based IT Asset tracking can be successfully leveraged specifically for an increased security posture. ODIN has an IT Asset tracking solution focused specifically on security. ODIN first deployed this solution in 2003 while working on a Secret-level project for a US Federal Agency, and has made many improvements over the past six years. The solution includes hardware, software, tags and integration services providing the ability to install a specialized infrastructure in walls and ceilings of any secure facility. This RFID infrastructure allows agencies to track the movement of critical assets in real time. Using ODIN’s Blackbird technology systems can be installed inside walls, as part of a ceiling grid, and covering entire warehouse areas without any visual indication of their presence.

ODIN’s IT Asset security solution is easily integrated into most CCTV and physical security systems. In fact ODIN was the first RFID company to adopt an IT asset security system in our own world headquarters facility just outside of Washington, DC. Taking a comprehensive approach ODIN has installed dual-factor biometric authentication coupled with passive RFID personnel tags, and passive RFID asset tags. A visit to the ODIN facility and most end-users quickly see the value of such a solution.

ODIN’s lab has the ability to embed or affix passive RFID tags on assets such as laptops, disc drives, firearms, artwork and other high-value items in a way that is not visible. This allows for clandestine tracking of these high-value items. Additionally, passive RFID tags with enhanced security can be employed when the application necessitates the highest level of security.

Combining a passive RFID IT Asset tracking system with a simple employee ID photograph arms security personnel a highly efficient method for authenticating employees and laptops as they enter or leave a facility. The RFID tag is associated with a photograph of an employee – so an RFID tagged laptop will recall a specific picture on a monitor. The security personnel sees the picture in real time as laptop enters an interrogation zone (the RFID read point). If a photograph does not show up on their monitor, they fall back to traditional method of manual verification: remove the laptop from the bag, check the serial number on the back and grant permission to enter or exit the building based on the ownership of the laptop. The bottom line is that if the picture associated with the tag doesn’t match the person carrying it out, security can act in real-time to prevent an intended or accidental loss of a critical asset.

This very simple system reduces security personnel workload in a busy facility such as bank headquarters, or government building by more than 80%, and increases security significantly as every laptop gets automatically authenticated in and out of the facility with an audit trail of date, time and location. This can also enable emergency exits and alternative non-manned points of egress to have an authentication station with a simple web came, so that every time there is a read event (a laptop leaving) a short MPEG file is taken from the webcam and added to the database, that way if something is discovered missing even weeks later a picture of that asset leaving the facility is stored securely in the database.

If you are interested in an IT Asset Security solution contact an ODIN professional for a facility assessment and to hear more about our packaged solution. ODIN is a women-owned small business with a cleared facility and cleared personnel for us DoD engagements.

RFID for Office Asset Tracking

Many people wrongly believe that IT asset management simply a piece of software that can be purchased off the shelf to account for all the subtleties of a distributed network of IT Equipment. In reality Asset Tracking software is only as good as the method for feeding data into it. RFID provides a critical linkage to guarantee 99.9% visibility on all IT Assets. RFID, when used with an IT supplier (like Dell, Sun, HP, or IBM) who will pre-tag assets with RFID, can eliminate one of the biggest areas of failure - manual data entry associated with device pedigree.

IT Asset Tracking with RFID is a combination of tools, people and processes. Accurately accounting for a widely distributed network of leased computers, owned devices, highly valuable disc drives with client information or company proprietary data poses very specific and complex challenges. The difference between the software’s report on a “dashboard” and “what is actually on hand” are often two very different results. To add to the challenge, most IT roles have broader responsibility for overall security strategies, lease expenses, software license compliance and regulatory governance. In a Fortune 1000 company or large government agency a typical IT team transfers computing assets between thousands of employees within the organization’s geographically dispersed locations, minimize spares and controls a highly-scrutinized budget, all on a daily basis.

Most companies need a comprehensive strategy to drive down cost, reduce loss rates, understand true total cost of ownership, and reduce manpower spend on non-value-add task – like walking around bar-code scanning desktop computers. RFID has the capability to uniquely solve these problems. ODIN’s RFID based office asset tracking solution can:

• Reduce labor in asset management 5x
• Cut total cost of ownership by 30-38%
• Reduce governance and compliance time by more than half
• Increase security
• Eliminate manual data entry
• Create a better working relationship with IT suppliers
• Eliminate penalties on leased equipment for late return
• Ensure all data is wiped clean on machines to be returned or dispersed

There are many more benefits to ODIN’s RFID based office asset tracking solution, given the nature of RFID. At any time a company can perform a real-time audit of equipment, who has it, where it is and where it’s been. Through an association with an IT owner, the security team can also ensure that any RFID-tagged IT asset only travels in or out of a facility with its rightful owner, even if that asset is a laptop in a briefcase on its way out the door.

If you are looking to truly automate the business process and reap the multiple awards of 99.9% IT Asset Accuracy and accountability then you need to speak to one of the IT Asset Tracking Experts at ODIN.

Financial Services Technology Consortium

The Financial Services Technology Consortium (FSTC) was created in 1993 by leading financial services organizations. Their object is to unite the industry and work collaboratively in a non-competitive, open forum to solve shared problems and pioneer next generation technology that benefits all in the industry. As they turned their sites onto the challenge of tracking IT Assets, they called on ODIN to help de-mystify the physics around tagging metallic assets. Additionally, the FSTC asked the ODIN engineering team to guide them as they set a standard for all of the industry to abide by when tagging and accounting for their IT assets, as they accelerate RFID adoption. By establishing a standardized numbering schema and standards on the types and placement of tags to use, the entire industry has benefited by the leverage RFID creates, especially in the occasion of mergers and acquisitions and the assumption of assets that comes with them.

Through FSTC, more than 100 of the top North American financial services and technology firms, academic institutions, and government agencies come together to discuss and research today’s technology issues and tomorrow’s technology-related needs. When they needed an expert in RFID, they called on ODIN.