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Juniper Putting RFID to Work to Track Products, Assets
Juniper's IPG department next began attaching passive RFID tags to circuit boards in order to be able to quickly and accurately inventory and track them during the product-development cycle. The tags used are Confidex's Steelwave Micro tag, which is designed for tracking small metal-rich assets. These tags comply with the ISO 18000-6c (EPC Gen 2) standard and can be read from up to 13 feet, according to Confidex. The Steelwave tags are also used to track IT assets, such as servers and PCs, in the IPG facilities.
Juniper uses Motorola's handheld MC9090-G reader to conduct periodic inventory of the items carrying passive tags. The AssetTrack software stores the tag data, associated with pertinent data about the assets, in a database that Juniper personnel access in order to locate specific boards.
The IPG is using this system to track 33,000 pieces of test equipment, circuit boards, prototype products and IT assets across three facilities, located in Westford, Mass., Bangalore, India, and Sunnyvale, says Harvie.
Recently, Juniper decided to deploy RFID at its data centers in Bangalore; London, Hong Kong, Sunnyvale, Westford and Cambridge, Mass., explains Harvie. Thus far, it has tagged 6,500 items across all of its data centers, attaching Confidex Steelwave Micro tags to its blade servers and attaching Metalcraft passive EPC Gen 2 Folded Tab RFID tags to the rest of its rack-mounted equipment. The space formed between the inlay and the IT equipment’s metal housing provides an air buffer that reduces RF interference around these tags, thereby making them easier to read. In the Juniper data centers, Alien Technology RFID interrogators mounted near doorways capture the unique IDs encoded to the RFID tags as IT assets are brought into or out of rooms. The readers collect this data and the AssetTrack software can issue an alert to Juniper personnel if any assets are detected outside of their designated location in the facility.
Juniper also uses the Motorola MC9090-G handheld to conduct periodic inventory of the IT assets. This data is stored in the AssetTrack software.
Harvie says that prior to implementing RFID, Juniper had been using a mix of bar codes and manual tracking to keep tabs on important assets in its IPG facilities and data centers.
"Our customers are starting to realize that asset management has legs in every aspect of their businesses, for tracking equipment, people and other assets," says Harvie. "Juniper is very progressive in realizing that."
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Juniper uses Motorola's handheld MC9090-G reader to conduct periodic inventory of the items carrying passive tags. The AssetTrack software stores the tag data, associated with pertinent data about the assets, in a database that Juniper personnel access in order to locate specific boards.
The IPG is using this system to track 33,000 pieces of test equipment, circuit boards, prototype products and IT assets across three facilities, located in Westford, Mass., Bangalore, India, and Sunnyvale, says Harvie.
Recently, Juniper decided to deploy RFID at its data centers in Bangalore; London, Hong Kong, Sunnyvale, Westford and Cambridge, Mass., explains Harvie. Thus far, it has tagged 6,500 items across all of its data centers, attaching Confidex Steelwave Micro tags to its blade servers and attaching Metalcraft passive EPC Gen 2 Folded Tab RFID tags to the rest of its rack-mounted equipment. The space formed between the inlay and the IT equipment’s metal housing provides an air buffer that reduces RF interference around these tags, thereby making them easier to read. In the Juniper data centers, Alien Technology RFID interrogators mounted near doorways capture the unique IDs encoded to the RFID tags as IT assets are brought into or out of rooms. The readers collect this data and the AssetTrack software can issue an alert to Juniper personnel if any assets are detected outside of their designated location in the facility.
Harvie says that prior to implementing RFID, Juniper had been using a mix of bar codes and manual tracking to keep tabs on important assets in its IPG facilities and data centers.
"Our customers are starting to realize that asset management has legs in every aspect of their businesses, for tracking equipment, people and other assets," says Harvie. "Juniper is very progressive in realizing that."
