Hewlett Packard (HP) Friday introduced a new service that enables customers to reduce property loss, increase security and improve audit controls in the data center with radio frequency identification (RFID) technology.
The HP Factory Express RFID Service tracks critical data center assets, such as HP factory-built servers, storage devices and rack enclosures, so customers can continuously monitor the equipment as soon as it is received at their facilities.
When deployed as part of a full RFID solution from HP and its partners, the service automates and tracks device movement, providing an accurate inventory of all assets throughout their lifecycle.
RFID is a data-collection technology that uses radio waves to remotely store and retrieve data to identify objects. It provides companies with up-to-the-minute supply chain visibility, including inventory and logistics dates as well as asset management capabilities.
“RFID has already proven itself to be invaluable for tracking assets,” said John Fontenalla, vice president, AMR Research.
“This new service is key to strengthening operational precision in a data center and ultimately customers’ ability to lower operational risks.”
HP offers customers a breadth of advanced RFID-related technology, such as tags, readers, middleware and business applications, for tracking, tracing, inventory management and security. The company also provides RFID consulting and integration services and is an active participant in global RFID standards development.
Data center asset management is becoming crucial to customers, particularly those with thousands of servers in multiple data centers across several geographies. Many data centers operate with manual inventory lists and have low inventory accuracy. With moves, adds and changes, keeping track of technology devices can be complex.
HP’s RFID tagging process allows technology devices to be scanned from the factory to the customer without requiring workers to manually inventory each asset. Customers can then quickly locate and maintain devices with minimal employee intervention, saving time and reducing loss or theft of valuable technology assets.
“Escalating customer demand for automated tracking led to HP’s development of this service,” said Tim Wilkinson, Regional Manager, RFID & Supply Chain COE.
“As an early adopter of RFID in our own supply chain and a world leader in RFID, HP is uniquely qualified to help customers lower their total cost of ownership and mitigate security risks through RFID services and solutions.”
HP plans to extend the service to customers worldwide via HP Factory Express locations in Singapore, Brazil and the United Kingdom. |
