HID, IBM, Atmel team up to produce asset management system

May 1, 1998 12:00 PM, George Partington

For large end-users, the total cost of ownership, or TCO, of owning and managing PCs can be immense, says Don Nelson, president of HID. IBM's general manager of desktop systems, Rod Adkins, agrees. He says industry analysts predict that losses from computer theft will reach approximately $8 billion in 1998.

To solve the problem, HID and IBM have teamed up with Atmel, a manufacturer of integrated circuits, to produce Asset ID, a system that uses radio frequency to communicate between tags and readers. Atmel provides the EEPROM on the PC system board.

The hardware and software technology permits communication between Asset ID-enabled PCs and access control systems using radio frequency identification technology. The tag is installed on the PC system board at the time of manufacture; when a computer so equipped comes within the RF field of a reader, information about whether it is being transported by an authorized individual will be recorded on the access control system. If removal is not authorized, an alarm condition results and the PC can be disabled remotely, requiring a password to access the system's critical data.

The three companies hope the Asset ID technology will become a global standard for asset tracking. The technology will be shared with other companies, and Lenel Systems International, Sensormatic, Pinkerton, Mosler, Northern Computers, Proprietary Controls Systems and Security Technologies Group have announced plans to use the technology. The companies noted that the tag will be integrated into their access control and security/human resources management systems.

"We are making a commitment to integrate this RF tag technology into our access control system," said Elena Prokupets, president and CEO of Lenel Systems International Inc.

Sensormatic announced the availability of Sensor ID, a compatible asset tracking system. "Our new software allows you to marry who with what, where and when, so you can actually determine who it was that carried which asset throughout the facility," says Kathie Bulson, director of intelligent tagging and tracking systems for Sensormatic.

"With the fully integrated tag," she adds, "you take away the possibility of someone removing the tag and leaving the asset unprotected."

IBM will ship commercial PCs and IntelliStation Windows NT workstations equipped with Asset ID during the second quarter of 1998; Asset ID-equipped ThinkPad notebook computers will be available beginning with the second half of 1998.

HID will also produce ProxTrak readers and a ProxTrak tag for existing computers not equipped with the Asset ID tag. The reader will be compatible with all current HID proximity cards and keyfobs, says the company. The complete asset management system is in beta testing, and it is expected to be commercially available in the fourth quarter of 1998.

Want to use this article? Click here for options!
© 2012 Penton Media Inc.

This month in Access Control

• Targeting The Customer
• Electronic Pedigrees
• One Hero Among Many
• Who? What? When? Where? Why?
• More from September's issue