Press Release Summary: ODIN technologies IT Asset Tracking Benchmark™ reveals passive RFID technology, including components only just available in the last few weeks, shows breakthrough performance on IT devices like servers, laptops, blades, and other high-value IT assets.
Press Release Body: Dulles, VA, September 9, 2008 – Today ODIN technologies, the leader in RFID solutions, automation software, and research released the industry’s first scientific evaluation of passive RFID technology focused on IT asset tracking. The IT Asset Tracking Benchmark™ reveals passive RFID technology, including components only just available in the last few weeks, shows breakthrough performance on IT devices like servers, laptops, blades, and other high-value IT assets. The vendor-neutral study shows unequivocally that passive RFID is ready to meet IT asset inventory needs with superior operational efficiency. Through RFID, companies are able to better track and secure sensitive and costly IT hardware.
“For years, companies employed labor-intensive and cumbersome barcodes or expensive active RFID solutions to track IT assets. That paradigm is about to change. The IT Asset Tracking Benchmark™ proves there’s a better way. A way that saves time, improves accuracy, and is cost effective: passive RFID,” stated Patrick J. Sweeney II, founder of ODIN technologies. “The sensitivity and performance of RFID equipment doubles every year – we call it ‘ODIN’s law’. Finally, within the last six months the technology has emerged to make RFID the best option for tracking IT assets. It’s been a perfect storm of advances in passive technology, such as chip innovations, metal mount tag formats, and more sensitive reader circuitry. This Benchmark will have the highest impact of any we have done over the past six years because it shows the most value to a broad range of end-users.”
The ODIN study demonstrates a variety of spectacular results such as inventorying a rack of 40 servers in 12 seconds or identifying all IT equipment within a typical cubicle five times faster than manual methods with 100% accurate data entry. The Benchmark shows that RFID is best suited for IT asset tracking, however it is important that end-users understand the many nuances ODIN discovered which are critical for guaranteeing successful implementation the first time.
The IT Asset Tracking Benchmark™ is the 12th installment of ODIN’s RFID Benchmark Series™ which independently evaluates RFID equipment performance based on physics. The benchmark is designed to answer common end user questions:
· How to implement RFID successfully · Which tagging solutions work and which lead to failure · How the technology is used to solve problems · How to build a business case
Tests Included IT asset managers are tracking equipment to satisfy Sarbanes Oxley regulations, ensure data security, improve efficiency, support accuracy, and improve the maintenance process. Through scientific tests comparing tag performance and analyzing common uses of IT asset tracking, the benchmark equips IT asset managers to make the best decisions for their respective businesses.
The five scientific tag tests include:
· Sensitivity – Will tags still respond if reader power is decreased? · Orientation sensitivity – Which tags require a handheld reader to be at a particular angle? · Distance – What is the optimal range to read tags with a handheld reader? · Material dependency – Which tags work on both metal and plastic equipment cases? · Blade server inventory – Which tags perform best when placed on blade servers?
The five use case tests include:
· Rack inventory – How does distance, power settings, or reader equipment affect inventory of a rack full of servers? · RAM inventory – Can individual sticks of RAM be inventoried with RFID technology? · Cubical inventory – Can a handheld reader inventory a variety of IT assets spread throughout a cubical? · Cubical speed comparison – How does RFID compare with manual inventory? · Control point inventory – How easily can a stack of IT assets be read passing through a doorway?
Vendor Products Tested ODIN engineers selected seven metal mount tags from four vendors based on a number of factors including physical dimensions, performance and commercial availability. Tag size and form factor is an important consideration because many tags are too large or do not have the appropriate dimensions to fit on the front of a narrow blade server or other IT equipment. Multiple readers were also used during testing. A clear lesson is that no one tag or reader is appropriate for all use environments and end-users should look to their suppliers of IT equipment to provide pre-tagged hardware.
ODIN technologies established itself as the leading RFID integrator with more than 200 global projects completed, by leveraging labs in the United States and Europe to learn more than anyone about RFID equipment performance for end user applications. By scientifically testing each new RFID technology and product offering, ODIN brings a level of expertise to end users unmatched in the RFID industry. The ODIN engineers learn and experiment in the lab, so customer recommendations and deployments are based on hard earned lessons. Additionally, through the RFID Benchmark Series™ we hope to make RFID buyers better consumers of vendor information and increase the likelihood of successful implementations.
Accessing the Benchmark The IT Asset Tracking Benchmark™ is available for download now at the ODIN technologies Store ( www.ODINtechnologies.com ). The cost is $1,500 for an enterprise wide business license. Educational institutions can contact ODIN for a free copy of the report.
About ODIN technologies ODIN technologies is the leader in the physics of RFID solutions for healthcare, aerospace, financial services, oil & gas and government agencies. Global corporations on five continents leverage ODIN technologies’ expert engineers and patented RFID deployment automation and monitoring tools to achieve accuracy, speed and visibility for their RFID deployments. In addition to turn-key solutions, ODIN technologies publishes the RFID Benchmark Series™, the industry's first and most referenced head to head performance analysis of RFID equipment. ODIN’s RFID optimization software EasyRFID™ has been successfully used at dozens of companies across more than 150 sites worldwide to ensure accurate and scalable RFID implementations. ODIN serves clients from offices in Dulles, Virginia, USA, Tokyo, Japan, Dublin, Ireland and Budapest, Hungary. www.ODINtechnologies.com
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