I’d like to explain why Wi-Fi is very similar to IUID, the ISO supported standard for global asset identification and machine-readable encoding used by the US military. To coin a pun, if you use a laptop, you’ll be able to track me nicely on this one. In fact, you might be reading this blog from your laptop, which is more than likely working off a wireless (Wi-Fi) network in your home or office.
To get to the point of this blog post: Wi-Fi would have connected you to the servers that are displaying this page. However communication with the Internet or your network would be impossible without Wi-Fi standards, namely some form of IEEE Standard 802.11, which allows wireless communications to happen.
Now take your laptop down the street to Starbucks. You can connect instantly to their Wi-Fi network right? Go to the airport and try to connect. Again, you’ll connect instantly. Your computer doesn’t inconvenience you, asking each time for the correct network, because 802.11 standards take care of that.
The Department of Defense, easily the organization with the world’s largest logistics footprint, has many systems that must communicate with the ease of Wi-Fi to enable authorized employees to utilize current data to make accurate, timely and cost-effective decisions. The reasons for the use of IUID, an ISO standard for global asset identification which utilizes the 2-D Data Matrix machine-readable code, are no different from the Wi-Fi standard.
Like Wi-Fi, IUID will become a standard to track millions of assets that are scattered around the world. At the local level, we work with programs that absolutely need IUID to improve their operation. Customers see that very quickly, and once they see how it will benefit their operations, they realize that applying IUID only to items mandated by MIL STD 130 will compromise their mission. What they soon understand is that they should be labeling and marking ALL items, within reason, to leverage the power of IUID.
When isolated locations are not Wi-Fi enabled, the Internet is inaccessible – a momentary annoyance. When highly sensitive parts are required for a secret military mission, the inability to locate them quickly and cost-effectively is a much more serious matter. DoD needs total IUID capability, and it needs it now more than ever.
