Nov 02, 2012While there are multiple RFID-based solutions currently on the market to enable data centers to track the locations or environmental conditions of servers, few solutions historically existed for managing parts and tools used on those machines. So when a national entertainment company began seeking a solution that would track spares at two of its West Coast data centers, the firm was unable to find such a system. Consequently, the company approached Vizualiiz, which offers an RFID server-tracking solution known as LightsOn. Together, they developed the LightsOn Spare Management system, which the entertainment company (which has asked to remain unnamed) is now in the process of implementing.
The LightsOn Spare Management system enables a user to apply either bar-coded labels or RFID tags to its spares, and to utilize a LightsOn software platform to determine which spares it has within its data centers, as well as when they are removed or returned. Initially, the entertainment company is attaching bar-coded labels to evaluate how frequently each spare part is moved. After analyzing the results over the next six months, the firm plans to attach passive ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) EPC Gen 2 RFID tags to spare parts that are of high value and that move frequently, and to then use a handheld reader, as well as an undetermined number of fixed RFID portals, to track spares that leave a storage area or cage.
Most data centers have spare parts on hand, which can include hard drives, network adapters, power supplies, power cords and network cables. In some situations, the server manufacturer provides maintenance service to a data center, and thus manages its own spares used for that maintenance. Increasingly, however, data-center owners are managing the maintenance themselves, according to Bob Cartright, Vizualiiz's president. When a data center's own staff performs maintenance, the quantity of spare parts required onsite can be large, and multiple storage areas or cages are set aside to contain those spares. If parts end up missing, they must be reordered, or moved from another data center, which can delay maintenance.
The entertainment company had installed motion-sensitive cameras at its spare-parts storage rooms, in an attempt to determine who was removing items, as well as when this occurred, and thus reduce parts shrinkage. The system did not provide much information, however, since a video provided did not make it clear what was being taken, or if it was returned.
Vizualiiz has developed a solution based on its existing LightsOn system specific for spare-parts management. With the solution in place, items are tagged with UHF Gen 2 RFID tags (though the system can also work with bar-coded labels and that, in fact, is where the entertainment company chose to begin in determining which parts might most require an RFID tag).
At the onset, the company is using bar-coded labels, each printed with a serial number and attached to each of its parts. The firm scans those serial numbers and stores that information in the LightsOn software, in order to create a list indicating which equipment is at what location. When removing or returning a spare part, a worker uses a bar-code scanner to read the bar-code label, and then indicates in the LightsOn software whether he or she is borrowing or returning that part.
By conducting a test of the system via bar codes, the company hopes to gain an understanding of which spares are being removed and returned most frequently, after which it will commence a strategy of applying the comparatively more expensive RFID tags to those items first. Once RFID tags are in use, he firm intends to install a reader portal at some of the storage areas, thereby enabling the items to be removed without being interrogated via a handheld reader. Reader manufacturers have yet to be selected, though Vizualiiz has provided DoTel DOTR-900 handheld RFID readers for its existing LightsOn RFID customers. The company's solution typically utilizes RFID tags supplied by Omni-ID.
In the case of fixed readers, a portal would be installed at some storage cages, in order to capture each tagged item's removal and return automatically. The entertainment company indicated that it was not interested in tracking which individual employee has a particular item, and thus would not be providing RFID tags to personnel.
The system is now available for other data centers, Cartright says, adding that he envisions data centers varying in how they use the LightsOn Spare Management system. "For example, most commodity-type spares [the type of bulk spares stored within a bin] would not be scanned when the spare item is received, but would be scanned when the spare is deployed," he states. "Conversely, non-commodity or higher-value spares—as defined by the customer—would typically be tagged and scanned when received into the cage and upon deployment."
