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Wake Forest Tests Asset-Protecting RFID System
"The unique advantage of SyncSeer is that it is agnostic," says Bob Joyce, Versatile's president, explaining that it works directly he says, with whatever technology the university is using, without the need for intervening middleware. This includes active and passive RFID, as well as wireless systems.
"SyncSeer is software-driven," says W. Bernard DeGree, III, Tyco Electronics' director of global business development. "It can collect data from various disparate systems and push that data," to provide both real-time event processing options and alert notifications.
"Wake Forest is a microcosm—a full-service organization with high-end and low-end assets—which puts it in a unique position," he says. Because some items require more active tracking than others, Wake Forest needed the flexibility of the SyncSeer software solution to operate the school's existing technology. For example, some assets require active RFID tags beaconing constantly to RFID readers in the building, notifying the university if the readers no longer detect a tag's signal. Other, lower-value items could be tagged with passive RFID to transmit only when they pass near a reader. May says the university would like to research tying the RFID system to its existing Wi-Fi wireless network, as well as its video surveillance system. WFU has already deployed a Wi-Fi infrastructure and a few IP-based cameras. May foresees the university continuing to research using RFID for location tracking, and Wi-Fi for other security and communication functions such as video transmission and storage. These functions would be tied into the RFID system via SyncSeer.
With its current system, May says, the university is now able to send an alert to police if an asset is moved in violation of the rules, along with 30 seconds of video footage from before and after the violation occurred. The school intends to test the use of personal RFID tags or, perhaps, RFID-enabled ID cards for students or staff. Each person's unique tag ID number would be linked to certain assets he or she would be permitted to move. Wake Forest supplies Versatile with those rules, along with an asset's serial number, a description and a tag ID number, as well as details about the asset's owner. Versatile then inputs the data and business rules into the system.
"I can see growth in the technology we are deploying," says May, "but maintaining the same growth in personnel needed to monitor that technology can be a challenge. That is why SyncSeer becomes so valuable." The software will monitor the system, he explains, eliminating the need for additional personnel. May says the school does not have specific dates set for full deployment throughout the campus, though that is his stated long-term goal.
"SyncSeer is software-driven," says W. Bernard DeGree, III, Tyco Electronics' director of global business development. "It can collect data from various disparate systems and push that data," to provide both real-time event processing options and alert notifications.
"Wake Forest is a microcosm—a full-service organization with high-end and low-end assets—which puts it in a unique position," he says. Because some items require more active tracking than others, Wake Forest needed the flexibility of the SyncSeer software solution to operate the school's existing technology. For example, some assets require active RFID tags beaconing constantly to RFID readers in the building, notifying the university if the readers no longer detect a tag's signal. Other, lower-value items could be tagged with passive RFID to transmit only when they pass near a reader. May says the university would like to research tying the RFID system to its existing Wi-Fi wireless network, as well as its video surveillance system. WFU has already deployed a Wi-Fi infrastructure and a few IP-based cameras. May foresees the university continuing to research using RFID for location tracking, and Wi-Fi for other security and communication functions such as video transmission and storage. These functions would be tied into the RFID system via SyncSeer.
"I can see growth in the technology we are deploying," says May, "but maintaining the same growth in personnel needed to monitor that technology can be a challenge. That is why SyncSeer becomes so valuable." The software will monitor the system, he explains, eliminating the need for additional personnel. May says the school does not have specific dates set for full deployment throughout the campus, though that is his stated long-term goal.
