An accurate asset inventory that is always up to date is key to achieving ISO27001 information security management standards and boosting security. Even if you are not trying to achieve the ISO27001 standards you should always be boosting security.
Just having an asset inventory is not enough. An inaccurate and out-of-date asset inventory is like having worn tires on your car - sure you have tires, but you cannot rely on them.
How you can get the right solution for an asset inventory that will help you meet ISO27001 standards and boost security:
- Always Up to Date – find a solution that will correct your asset inventory frequently. Aim for at least daily. Avoid solutions that make your asset inventory correct once every 6 months.
- Accuracy – find a solution that has an accuracy rate of 99% or higher. Avoid error-prone or unreliable solutions that rely on manual effort and sending people to your data centers.
- Real-Time Asset Location Tracking – find a solution that always knows where your assets are, even if they are moved. This includes if assets are moved within the data center or moved outside of the data center to areas like storage rooms, labs, receiving, or decommissioning.
Skip to the comparison table – click here.
Manual On-Premises Asset Counts
The most common approach for updating an asset inventory. Send people to each data center to touch and count each asset and manually update the asset inventory. People try their best, but accuracy is low, and this only works on a small scale.
Once the count is done, the hope is that nothing changes so the inventory stays up to date. But hope is not a strategy and change is as certain as death and taxes.
The result is an asset inventory that is not up to date and is not accurate.
To rub salt in the wound, busy resources were either taken off other work to do the count and update the inventory, or a vendor was paid big dollars to do the job.
Manual On-Premises Asset Barcode Scans
Solutions that use barcodes and scanners may provide a small speed boost, but still suffer from poor accuracy and need to visit each data center to scan every asset and manually update the asset registry. No big win here. The asset inventory is only up to date for a brief period.
Manual On-Premises Asset RFID Tag Scans
Passive RFID tags are a small step up from barcodes. As a technology, they are certainly more interesting than barcodes. That is really where the difference ends.
The trouble with passive RFID tags is that they are still inherently manual. Beware of the snake oil salesperson who promises automation with passive RFID. The truth is that just like a barcode they are a proximity-based solution – a human needs to get close enough to the tag with a reader to wake up and read the tag.
In the real-world passive RFID turns out to be a high-cost manual solution that does not deliver an accurate and always up-to-date asset inventory.
Automated Active Asset RFID Tag Audits & Tracking
Active RFID tags are the only solution that does not require sending people to a data center to manually count or scan assets and update the asset inventory.
It is also the only solution that can track when and where an asset is moved and automatically update the asset inventory and alert of the change.
So instead of having an asset inventory that is only accurate and up to date twice a year for a few hours, your asset inventory is always up to date with a vastly superior level of accuracy.
The best solution for achieving the ISO270001 Annex A.8.1.1 Asset Inventory Controls is an active RFID solution.
What About Bluetooth and WiFi?
What’s the reason for not including Bluetooth or WI-FI solutions? They simply aren’t viable solutions for inside a data center. With all the metal and other obstructions, a data center is like a big faraday cage that interrupts wireless signals. These solutions are plagued by many other limitations, including tag density.
Learn more about the differences between passive and active RFID solutions here.
Solution Comparison Table
|
|
Solution |
|||
|
Manual Counts |
Barcode Scans |
Passive RFID |
Active RFID |
|
|
Manual Effort |
High |
High |
High |
Low |
|
Cost of Always Up-to-Date Inventory |
High |
High |
High |
Low |
|
Cost of 99%+ Accuracy |
High |
High |
High |
Low |
|
Real-Time Asset Location Tracking |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
|
On-Premises Presence Required |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
What about Bluetooth or WI-FI solutions I hear you say? They do not work in a data center. With all the metal and other obstructions, a data center is like a big faraday cage that interrupts wireless signals. You can learn more about the differences and costs when comparing active and passive RFID for data centers.
