Which One – Equipment ID Marking Confusion

How can you find the right ID asset marking solutions to help you keep track of laptops, tablets, mobiles, musical instruments and more…?

Great as portable items and equipment  are they are also prone to being lost or stolen. A good way to prevent this is to make sure each item is clearly marked with who it belongs to.

However, with such a wide selection of marking solutions it’s important to choose the right asset identification product for you so you get something that works without costing you the earth.

In a hurry call Dantech on 01354 688488 to find the right asset marking solution for you.

Tough to Remove - Permanent Labels

Your first choice is to decide the size of the asset mark you want as this will often limit the asset marking products you can use.

If your equipment is very small you might need a more specialised tag, label or sticker. These often use 2D or QR codes to help track key information about the item on a much smaller label or tag.

Dantech Minimark Labels are a great example of these small asset tags.

The quality of your asset marking is also important, you want your labels, tags, stickers and plates to stay put permanently. So your asset marking needs to use top quality adhesive to make sure it stays in place and can’t be easily removed.

Cheap asset marking products often use low quality adhesives and this can be a false economy as they need to be replaced more often.

Long Lasting Asset Marking

So you know the size of equipment marking you need and understand you want a quality solution, but to this you also need to think about how your equipment is being used.

How equipment is used effects the type of asset marking material selected for example it’s no surprise in industrial settings metal or tough acrylic plates are used to security mark equipment due to their ability to last in these tough situations.

If your equipment is handled a lot of subject to changing or tough environments including high or low temperature, outside in all weathers or close to harsh chemicals you want to be sure your asset marking isn’t going to be worn away or damaged.

A great example of this are aluminiumfoil id labels suitable for both indoor and outdoor use plus high temperature resistance, up to 150ºC short term, and down to - 40ºC.

While no asset marking solution is 100% resistant to being removed or damaged the best are extremely tough and can even leave behind a permanent sign of any tampering. It’s no surprise that this acts as a very strong deterrent to equipment theft.

With Dantech tamper voidlabels if someone tries to remove the label the word VOID remains on the surface clearly showing evidence of tampering.

Conclusion

Quality asset marking of equipment and items such as laptops, tablets, mobiles and musical instruments is really worth the investment in deterring items from being lost or stolen.

It’s important to think carefully about the size, permanency and environment that any asset marking is going to need to survive. In addition talking to a specialist like Dantech (call on 01354 688488) can help you find the best asset marking solutions for you, which will last and protect your equipment over a long period of time.

About the Author

Dantech are suppliers of quality asset and equipment security and ID marking solutions.

Find out more by visiting:

•  www.idassetlabels.co.uk – Wide select of Asset Labels, Tags and Stickers
•  www.idmark.com – Identify and security marking solutions
•  www.expresslabels.co.uk – Design and order your asset labels and stickers online

Tips on Recovering Stolen Items

Being burgled is a terrible experience, but it can be a wake-up call for many of us about how poorly protected our assets can be.

While insurance can help cover the cost of replacing items most of us would rather have our property back. However, even if police recover stolen goods one of the hardest issues can be proving who the real owners are of each item. If you don’t have records and your items aren’t security marked then it can at times be virtually impossible to prove ownership.

Using Identifying Security Marks 

Many people don’t know how to protect their items in the event of a burglary therefore fail to do so. To be safe, keep item descriptions, serial numbers, and photos of your valuables. You can also place identifying security marks on your property, so they can be quickly recognised as belonging to you.

Try marking your soft items, such as leather, or cloth with a marker and use a UV security marking pen to mark high valued Items with ‘shiny’ surfaces such as iPads, tablets, laptops, projectors, cameras, mobiles, bikes, garden utilities - where chemical etching won't penetrate.

Call the Police 

The first thing to do when you find that your home has been broken into is do call the Police. Filing a police report and providing as much information as possible about your stolen goods will help the police in their investigation.

Check in with the police weekly to see if they’ve made progress on your case. Reminding the police about your case will keep it fresh in their minds.

Check out local pawn and second-hand goods Shops 

It is not uncommon for thieves to take stolen goods to a pawn shop or second hand goods store in your local area and surrounding towns. Ring around and visit some of these shops immediately after the event.

If you find your goods in a shop don’t demand your good back or attempt to buy them back. You should ask the shop to reserve them for you and contact the police straight away.

Browse through the eBay listings 

EBay is another popular method used by burglars to get rid of hot items. If you happen to stumble across your missing items on eBay, print a copy of the listing, complete with the eBay site address, date, item number, and User ID.

Print one copy for yourself and one for the police. By giving the police the listing, they can then go about recovering your items. Hopefully these tips will be able to help you recover your stolen items in the unfortunate event of a burglary.

Remember by security marking your items, this will increase your chances of recovering them.

Security Marking for Business and Industry 

If you’re an organisation or business then your security marking needs to be more organised than a simple UV pen and the method you use can vary across your different assets and equipment.

Specialists in asset and security marking Dantech Ltd can help you find the right security marking system for you including UV security marking stencils suitable for shiny surfaced equipment like iPads, ID security plates for big or high value equipment and asset labels for smaller items, tools and equipment. For more information visit www.idmark.com.

Protect Your Classroom Equipment with Asset Labels

Protecting Class Room Equipment

When maintaining a class room, it is essential to know where your school equipment is and to ensure that it can easily be tracked and catalogued.

 It may actually be surprising just how much valuable equipment a single class room can have, and this goes double to class rooms geared towards specialised subjects, such as science or technology.

As such, using security marking methods such as asset labels coupled with equipment inventories and bar codes or ID numbers to track your equipment is a very good way to keep abreast of where they are and when they’re not where they’re supposed to be.

Tracking Equipment in Schools 

It can be very tricky to keep tabs on equipment in a school setting, as it’s frequently the case that there are more students and more classes than there is equipment for lessons. As such, items often rotate classrooms, winding up in rooms without proper authorisation.

While writing the schools name in permanent pen might seem like a cheap and effective solution it seldom works as a real security measure. The easiest way to mark your classroom equipment is to use an asset label with a proper bar code or ID number.

Asset labels are dedicated permanent labels containing key security or identity details for the item of equipment. Good quality ones are near impossible to remove and can withstand regular use and harsh environments. In addition for very small equipment there are even mini labels using 2D or QR codes.

Asset Lists 

By assigning each piece of school equipment a code or number you can link a database of equipment details directly to an item via the asset label number. As such, asset labels allow equipment to be quickly identified by other members of staff or students and promptly returned to where they should be.

Carefully written and tracked equipment lists can be used during class set up to note what is being used, where it is being used and who is responsible for it. After the class, the list can then be used to track if any items are missing, where they are likely to be and, in worst case scenarios, who will be held responsible for its damage or loss.

For more details on asset labels visit ID Asset labels or for UV security marking and ID plates visit ID Mark.

Security Marking Tablets To Protect Your Property

Perhaps the greatest irony of the 2008 Recession is that, even during its height, sales of highly expensive personal items continued to grow, such as the latest models of mobile phone, laptops and tablet computers.

Many of us now carry around several hundred pounds worth of electronic devices that simply help us function in an increasingly cyber-dependent world. Indeed it’s actually become very common for someone’s entire life to be held on a single hard-drive, from baby photos to e-invoices to personal contacts.

Increased Risk

Of course, with all this lovely expensive tech comes as increasing need for security and sadly a side effect of recession periods can be an increase in theft. While many security measures work to lock down a device or protect the data stored inside what most of us would like is deterrent to prevent the theft in the first place.

It is a sad fact that even the best locks can be broken, and that determined thieves can eventually overcome most security measures. Something like a Kensington lock or an alarm rather than a form of immunity against theft; is rather more akin to a delaying action or a deterrent. If a thief does decide to pinch your locked and alarmed laptop, you can be reasonably sure he also has the determination to break or circumnavigate the other security measures.

So what do you do if the locks fail and the thief gets away with your company tablet computer, one which potentially holds a vital work files and information?

Sad to say, but there isn’t a lot you can do yourself, however if your company had security marked your tablet they would have improved your chances of the police finding, identifying and returning your tablet to you safe and sound.

 Security Marking

When we talking about security marking tablets, laptops and other tech, what we’re actually doing is marking such devices with a small security label, stencil or plate. These create a permanent mark of ownership in many cases a company name and can include a unique security number for identification, and maybe even other informational titbit's such as contact details. 

While security labels can be made from a number of materials a tamper evident material break into small pieces when attempts are made to remove them. This makes it even harder to remove and clearly shows tampering. Products like ID Silver Mark and ID Mark leave a permanent UV identification which can be clearly seen under the correct lighting, This makes security marked items harder for thieves to sell on (fences and dealers are usually unwilling to accept “hot” goods) and easier for them to be identified if recovered.

While security marking cannot guarantee that your tech will be returned with any due swiftness, it can help improve the chances of the item being found, and that in itself can be well worth the investment. 

For more information about security marking tablets, phones, laptops and other devices, or security tag IDs in general, visit Dantech - ID Mark security marking, a company that specialises in security marking for business, industry and organisations. You can also contact them directly by phoning 01354 688 488.

What are Security Labels?

Security Labels are a type of sticker that can be attached to your business equipment and fixed assets to deter the chance of them being lost or stolen by clearly identifying the items as your property.

The security label usually attaches via very adhesive glue on the back of a laminated piece of plastic or metal, engraved on which are your company details.

Recommended security

The UK’s Home Office recommends the use of these labels, with identifiable information such as company name and postal code clearly visible.

Many businesses now use millions of Security Labels and plates to protect items such as laptops, mobile phones, printers and even larger factory equipment. The idea behind security labels is that once stuck onto an object, it is incredibly difficult, or even impossible to remove the label without damaging the object onto which it is stuck. This helps to deter would-be-thieves from stealing these possessions, although it is obviously not a definite prevention.

Having these Security Labels on your property also means that if any of your items did by any chance happen to go missing, with a Post Code and Company Name marked clearly on them, they can be quickly identified as your property and returned.

Finding the right labels for you

Depending on the type of property that you are trying to mark, Security Labels come in different classes. Some are very simple, small stickers which a company name, logo and contact number can be printed on. Then, you can get larger stickers for property that is bigger. These are generally much stickier to prevent someone getting purchase on them and ripping them off.

At the high end of the security label market, it is possible to acquire Ultra Destructible labels, which, if tampered with will break into smaller pieces every time, making it impossible to remove them. Alternatively, you can buy metal plates which can be melted on to certain surfaces with a special super-glue. These can only be removed with specialist tools which are likely to damage the product they are on anyway.

When you buy a set of security labels, they usually come in a bulk buy purchase, where you purchase at least a couple of hundred labels. The price per label then decreases if you order more and more. For more details on types of security labels and pricing visit ID Asset Labels.

Keeping Track of Tablets

When a tablet goes missing, how do you know which is which?

There are two issues relating to the increased use of tablets in the workplace. One is that the rate as which tablet use is increasing and second the number of times these items are mislaid, lost or stolen.

By their nature small and portable equipment can be easily lost or mislaid. In reality only a tiny minority of tablet computers may actually be stolen.

What happens is that a person in the company legitimately is loaned a tablet, but then subsequently this is lost or becomes hard to locate, so the employee borrows another tablet.

Does the company have accurate records of which item has been lost and are sufficient security markings in place for each tablet to aid recovery of the lost item? Should this be a reoccurring situation would you be able to trace the source back to an employee or employees i.e. the same employee losing equipment or different employees are mislaying items.

Problems security marking tablets

Tablets are invariably made of either aluminium or hard plastic with a cured paint to make it hard and scratch-proof. This makes putting identification marks on the tablet computers difficult, because you simply can’t 'etch' anything into aluminium or hard plastics as they do not have a porous surface.

One security marking solution is to use an aluminium trakaplate which, because of the thickness and strong adhesive that they use, are near impossible to remove. In fact, the only way you could get such an identification label off would be to lever it off with a screwdriver – which is extremely hard to do.

An alternative product is ID Silver Mark labels. These security labels are precision cut stencils which can include your company name. The labels are then painted with UV ink to provide a pertinent security marking that lasts even if the label is removed.

If you have tablets or similar objects of value in your organisation investing in quality security marking will ensure you can track, trace and protect these valuable assets.

For free and unbiased help and advice on selecting the best security marking or asset labelling solutions call Dantech on 01354 688 488 or visit www.idmark.com

Protecting Laptops, iPads & Tablets

Several years ago Bryanston School based in Dorset decided came to the decision that the school needed to track and check its ever growing stock of IT equipment. 

After looking at a number of options they felt the most sustainable and cost effective solution was to label their on site laptops and equipment not just with the school’s postcode but also with the name of the student who owned the computer using a system called ID SILVER MARK. Over time the school has been able to use the same system to security label iPads, iPhones and hard drives.


The system is simple each September the school orders silver mark labels for the new intakes, being sure to order enough security labels for existing equipment plus two further labels per student in case the students get new laptops during the year.

What if someone removes the label?

The great thing about silver mark labels is if the security label gets peeled off, the UV paint still show the schools postcode and pupil name.  This UV marking is permanent and makes it much easier to track equipment.


In addition the Police and Insurance companies have noted that the ID MARK conforms to Home Office Guidelines - by using your name and postcode as a way of identifying your property, this helps with item recovery in case of theft.

More than just a solution for schools

Silver mark security marking is the perfect solution not only for schools, but for a wide range of organisations and businesses wanted to keep track and protect their valuable equipment.

ID Silver Mark is available in black or silver materials with permanent adhesive. All Dantech asset labels are personalised with your name and logo as well as sequential numbering or barcodes.

There is more information on asset labelling visit http://www.idassetlabels.co.uk/ or for security marking including ID Silver Mark visit http://www.idmark.com/