Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) in the Enterprise

Case Study:
RFID vs. Traditional Bar Coding in the enterprise

When most people think of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), the concept of “the next generation of Bar Codes” comes to mind. While this is true to some extent, the comparison is like the relationship between a stone tablet and the Library of Congress.

Bar Codes are based on the Universal Product Codes (UPC). These codes, while tremendously useful in reducing the manual labor in inventorying items on a store shelf, or at a check out, only describe the item as a specific “widget”. All the information derived from a bar code is represented in the limited field of information that it can store.

RFID, on the other hand (based on the Electronic Product Codes, or EPC), provides the user with a web based reference to everything about the product. This, of course, starts with information that would be included in the bar coded UPC, but extends to all aspects and attributes of the product. This information includes all the marketing, sales, manufacturing, and delivery of the product.

Consider a laptop computer, for example. The RFID EPC data might start with the model but continue with who purchased it, the date the order was taken, a description of every part put into it, the names of the individual who built it, when it was shipped and where, the warranty information, pricing, and so on. It would not only describe the product, but the unique instance of the product in great detail. Collectively, all this information is known to one or more people at some point in time. RFID and EPC facilitate the collection, organization, and usage of this information.

Within the enterprise, the collective history of any object can be extremely useful. Certainly, stealing an object that can be positively identified becomes less attractive, but the future deployment of the device should be considered. How old is it? Whose was it? What are its capabilities?

Another example would be an optical cable used in a data center. One might use the cable to link a million dollar processor to a million dollar Storage Area Network, both supporting gigabit speeds. What if the cable only supported megabit speed? The processor and the control unit will downshift in speed until they can synchronize with one another. The user spent all that money for the latest technology, to no benefit. If the user referenced the RFID and EPC codes, the cable would not have been used.

While the benefits of having all the available information on a device may seem apparent, the ability to read the RFID EPC code at a distance, without line of sight, is an additional benefit. If the device or object is in a box, or other non metallic enclosure, it can still be inventoried and its EPC data referenced. Examples may be data cartridge tapes which are archived off site, or important documents sent in a protective enclosure. RFID antennas arranged around a secure facility in a grid fashion, or at doorway, log the object as it moves around or leaves the facility. Remember the tagged laptop mentioned before? An RFID system records when it leaves and when it returns, even though it is in a case slung over someone’s shoulder.

Reduction to Practice

As with any new technology there are three major components: price, vendor adoption rate, and end user adoption rate, which will determine how soon RFID is adapted into the enterprise.

Pricing for tags and readers will not be a major consideration for most enterprises when one considers the benefits. Prices have rapidly dropped as a result of the massive volumes driven by the supply chain industry.

Vendor adoption rate will be the key element in reduction to practice. In order to produce tags to EPC standards, the vendor must collect, manage, and store information throughout the entire marketing, sales, order, production, and delivery cycles.

Connectivity Technologies redefined the entire back office process, and developed software to allow system functionality. While it’s clear there are tremendous operational efficiencies and customer satisfaction rewards to be realized, it’s also clear many other enterprise vendors have yet to realize the benefits of a total or partial RFID integration.

End user adaptation will be directly proportional to the size of the enterprise. Larger organizations, with large amounts of assets, will be the first to adapt, simply because their need for organization and information is the greatest, and therefore the return on investment will be realized sooner.

Recommendations

1. Understand the RFID strategy for each of your major vendors. Many server and storage suppliers have strategies in place.
2. Require vendors to tag product by a specific date.
3. Investigate software which will not only read EPC vendor tags, but also produce tags. This will provide better preparation when the vendor(s) introduce RFID enabled product, and allow tagging of legacy equipment and equipment received before the vendor is able to comply.
4. Initiate a pilot program. This will orient staff to the possibilities of RFID, and will dispense with the “voodoo” often associated with new technology. Tag spare parts or some other non intrusive object set.
5. Bar codes are not dead! Most RFID labels are constructed from printable paper (containing embedded chips and antennas), allowing for written descriptions. Print the bar code from an existing system on an RFID tag and ensure the RFID information references the bar code. The two technologies are not mutually exclusive.

Integrating RFID Applications into the Data Center

“Build it and they will come” is not a business strategy. For example, many RFID start ups have developed promising technologies that have yet to be adopted into the mainstream market. This may be a result of the premature state of current RFID implementation as well as other dependent associated technologies. As more RFID applications are identified, the technologies will mature, blossom, consolidate, migrate, and become nominal fixtures in the Data Center infrastructure.

Examples of the technology migration and acceptance in the enterprise were prevalent at the Financial Services Technology (FST) Summit held recently in Boca Raton, Florida, attended by
C-Level executive participants. It became apparent RFID technology could be applied to provide solutions for problems that currently have no technological resolution. Distinct areas of possible implementation discussed at the Summit included total asset management and tracking, end to end auto discovery of connections, auto-generated documentation, and auto-generated visual graphic drawings of the physical and logical layer.

To ensure smooth operational success, Data Center facilities located globally should embrace standardization, ensuring methodologies within the discrete locations will remain constant, minimizing confusion (and are often a result of enacted Corporate policies). In the area of standardizing asset management and tracking, an obvious implementation of RFID technology is the ability to track servers and other related hardware. A not so obvious application may be in the area of document tracking. The ability to track and audit the movement history and current location of strategic documents is an application that was discussed at the Summit. For example: a financial institution with a Data Processing Center might require the monitoring and tracking of mortgage loan documents from cradle to grave, both within and outside the company’s various locations. Incorporating an RFID technology solution might accomplish the task automatically by simply attaching an RFID label to the document, and placing readers and antennas at entry and exit points. The documentation is then tracked company wide, with an instant recording of movement between on site offices and departments. The process may be expanded further with the deployment of employee bracelets embedded with RFID tags, which would track and record the movement of strategic documents with regard to physical location, time, department, and personnel, providing increased security. The placement of readers at shipping and receiving points of all facilities would enable the tracking and verification of the arrival and departure from location to location.

Another item discussed was the importance of placing RFID tags on switch transceivers. This would provide auto-documentation and tracking of the physical and logical location of each port (end to end) within the infrastructure. This would also provide connectivity mapping from the RFID tagged hardware to the RFID tagged fiber optic and copper cables, through the patch panels and cabinets, and, could tie the specific port to a particular IP address so connections can be monitored globally.

RFID might also accomplish the feat of combining the logical and physical entities. Current market software can track, trace, and document the hardware logical path view and the port’s logical representation, but cannot verify with certainty the connection path or physical location (rack, RU location, row of cabinets, room, floor, building, etc.). Additionally, if equipment is not powered, no automatic method is available to ascertain if the equipment exists, let alone determine its physical location. Tagging all assets, on the floor, on the dock, in inventory, wherever, allows easy and automatic tracking of movement, placement, and status of the assets within the Enterprise.

The tagging of assets also enables verification that software costs can be audited by monitoring hardware assets against applicable software licenses, and allows the management of hardware that leaves a facility due to a technology refresh or expiration of a lease. Software costs may be minimized by identifying existing onsite hardware assets not in service or powered down.

A NEW AGE IN AUTOMATED MANAGEMENT OF ENTERPRISE INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURES

Information is the life blood of any business. Organizations must use information as a strategic weapon to remain competitive. The reliance on information has grown so intense that even the slightest interruption in the flow can make the difference between profit and loss for a day, a quarter, or a year. With this in mind, businesses are spending billions of dollars on the collection, storage, manipulation, distribution, and protection of the information.

So if information is the life blood of an organization, then the data center is the heart of the organization, and the data communications infrastructure is the vascular system. Not unlike human cardio vascular systems, the data center and its infrastructures are vital to the overall health of a business. Yet, the data center is an environment of constant change. Mergers, acquisitions, new business partners, equipment upgrades, lease expirations, marketing programs, natural and man made disasters, and a host of other real world business activities constantly challenge the IT professional to provide the level of data availability necessary to their organization.

ConTechs’ “Genesys” is an auto-discovery enterprise infrastructure management and documentation solution utilizing state of the art RFID technology. The Genesys system provides real time asset management, inventory tracking, physical layer infrastructure information, and enables logical and physical views which are auto documented. The Genesys system provides instant retrieval of information detailing all the attributes for each piece of equipment RFID tagged, and provides hardware planning and risk management tools.

To summarize, RFID technology promises to provide increased operational efficiencies for the entire enterprise. The core components of the technology have become commodities due in part to the retail and supply chain industries. The complexities and the criticality of IT environments are well suited for the deployment of RFID management systems. Investments by major IT suppliers of RFID technology verify the observation that RFID will definitely impact how environments are managed, and the timeframe for implementation is very short. In five years, every asset in an information technology environment will be tagged. RFID technology automates the identification and location of any object, revolutionizing the management of anything and everything.