PC Guardian Debuts RFID Suite for IT Asset Tracking

IT Pro Asset Mobile is designed to help companies track and monitor mobile assets, and involves EPC Gen 2 RFID portals and tags. Typically, the portals will be positioned at doorways and entryways to track when mobile assets leave and come into areas. The portals could read EPC Gen 2-enabled employee badges as well, so companies could not only know when a mobile asset left a building, but who was removing that asset as well.

IT Pro Asset Parts is designed to help companies track peripheral equipment and spare parts that are typically stored in specific rooms or in cages. The solution features RF Code's active tags and fixed readers, which capture all the tags in that room, keeping a running tally of the inventory. When someone takes an item from the room, that person removes the item's tag and puts it into a bin that then blocks the tag's signal from being picked up by the reader, subtracting that tag's unique ID number, and therefore the item, from the inventory count. If a worker walks out of the room with the tag still attached, the reader will no longer be able to read the tag's signal, again prompting the system to subtract that tag's unique ID number from the inventory count. The reader is just powerful enough to read tags in the inventory area, and a typical maximum read distance is about 50 feet or less. "Companies can have instant visibility about what is in the inventory at any time, and what they might need to order so they always have the necessary parts on hand," says Groth. "That can save a company a lot of time and money, and they can reuse the active tags over and over again."

IT Pro Asset Data Center is similar to IT Pro Asset Provisioning, except it is more focused on equipment, such as servers and racks, designated for the data center. "Companies can track the assets as they are moved into the data center, and once the passive tags have been affixed to these devices, companies can do inventory in the data center using a mobile, handheld reader," says Groth.

PC Guardian is unveiling the new suite of products as part of its new RFID division. The company has not signed on any new customers, but Groth says over the past 25 years, PC Guardian has secured and protected more than 25 million IT assets in large and midsize organizations worldwide. Customers include some of the largest commercial organizations in the world, as well millions of computers in all branches of the U.S. military, he says.