RFID smart cards combined with mobile computing and Web technologies provide a way for organizations to identify and manage their assets. Mobile computers, with integrated RFID readers, can now deliver a complete set of tools that eliminate paperwork, give proof of identification and attendance. This approach eliminates manual data entry.
Web based management tools allow organizations to monitor their assets and make management decisions from anywhere in the world. Web based applications now mean that third parties, such as manufacturers and contractors can be granted access to update asset data, including for example, inspection history and transfer documentation online ensuring that the end user always has accurate, real-time data. Organizations are already using RFID tags combined with a mobile asset management solution to record and monitor the location of their assets, their current status, and whether they have been maintained.
RFID is being adopted for item-level retail uses. Aside from efficiency and product availability gains, the system offers a superior form of electronic article surveillance (EAS), and a superior self checkout process for consumers.
2009 witnessed the beginning of wide-scale asset tracking with passive RFID. Wells Fargo and Bank of America made announcements that they would track every item in their data centers using passive RFID. Most of the leading banks have since followed suit. The Financial Services Technology Consortium (FSTC) set a technical standard for tagging IT assets and other industries have used that standard as a guideline. For instance the United States Department of State is now tagging IT assets with passive RFID using the ISO/IEC 18000-6 standard.contactless cards
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