Asset Vue IDs Why Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a Cost-Effective Tool for Data Center Professionals
Data center professionals are often the first to see the latest, greatest data center infrastructure available. New blade servers, smart switches, and storage area networks come through their hands first. But when it comes to accounting for these important and expensive data center assets for the annual data center audit, the tools these data center professionals use are less than high tech. “Most data center professionals end up using a flashlight, a magnifying glass and a clipboard to conduct audits of their data center assets,” says John Consoli, Executive Vice President of Asset Vue, a provider of RFID based asset management and data center management solutions, “This isn’t efficient and audits become a long and tedious process that are prone to error.” Consoli instead points out Five ways data center professionals can use RFID to save time and money in the data center. Most organizations mandate an annual or semi-annual data center audit to meet internal or external requirements. Internally, organizations need to maintain inventory checks and balances, cycle out end-of-life equipment and manage depreciation of capital expenditures. Externally, there are often industry and regulatory requirements to consider. SAS 70 and SSAE measure a data center’s financial reporting and record keeping controls. HIPAA ensures sensitive patient information is protected. Knowing the location of a sensitive data center asset is critical. “RFID tags that are either supplied directly by the data center equipment manufacturer or added later by a data center professional, are cost-effective and time-efficient alternatives to lights, magnifiers and pens when conducting audits,” says Consoli. Five Ways to use RFID to Save Time and Money in the Data Center
- Reduce time to conduct audits and maintain inventory. Whether annually, semi-annually, monthly or weekly, using technology can speed audit time allowing data center staff to focus on higher-priority tasks.
- Increase accuracy of data center audits. Using a wand and mobile cart is a simpler, more accurate method of conducting audits and maintaining inventory. It reduces human error by removing the number of steps involved in cataloging assets. Information about a data center asset is only entered once, as an asset enters a data center or during the first audit. After that, the information resides in a database.
- Quickly locate critical data center assets. The typical 25,000 to 50,000 sq. ft. data center may contain 5,000 to 15,000 individual assets – from racks, to servers to individual blades inside a server chassis. It is not uncommon for a service person to enter a large, enterprise data center with a service ticket and then spend most of the day simply attempting to locate the specific asset for repair.
- Manage time-to-deployment. Large data centers experience nearly 50 percent IT asset turnover due to equipment upgrades and end-of-life. Tens of thousands of dollars in equipment arrives through the receiving bay, enters a holding cage in the data center where it is staged, and then gets deployed into racks on the data center floor. The longer the time-to-deploy, the more these new assets cost the organization. While many IT equipment vendors now include RFID tags directly in their equipment, most data centers do not take advantage of this time-saving technology.
- Manage service level agreements (SLAs). Data center professionals can associate maintenance and warranty information with every RFID equipment tag. This way they can monitor and manage equipment and associated SLAs including when warranties expire, depreciation and disposal policies. These can be reviewed monthly, weekly or even daily, helping a data center tech more easily monitor, locate and manage IT assets.
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About Asset Vue
Asset Vue, LLC is a Bristol, PA-based provider of RFID based asset management and data center management solutions. The company offers technology designed to solve the kinds of regular challenges faced by “data center people” in their daily roles and their strategic responsibilities that is not found in other tools. The passive-RFID solution represents the culmination of living and working through the daily challenges faced by data center management and leadership across the industry. The company’s executive leadership and product development staff bring vast, direct experience from the world of data center operations, where they have worked with some of the world’s most complex and most high-profile data center operations. For additional information, please visitwww.assetvue.com
