Dirty rotten laptop thieves may want to consider another way to make a quick buck, as there are forces in play that will hopefully render this business model obsolete. Intel has teamed up with Impinj, Technology Solutions UK, and Burnside Digital to create an RFID solution called Wireless Credential Exchange to track lost and stolen laptops. Intel’s System-on-Chip is a crucial component of the RFID system. The key is that it can read and write data to the Monza RFID chip that will be embedded into Intel SoC-powered devices. The chip can also be read and written to using an external TSL RFID reader, even when the system is powered down.

Intel has been working on a project that uses RFID technology to provision, track and monitor devices such as laptops, hospital equipment or other devices – the system could also be used as a kind of kill switch for devices that are either lost or stolen. The project dubbed the Wireless Credential Exchange (WCE) relies on Monza RFID chips developed by Impinj, industry-standard RFID readers created by Technology Solutions UK and a cloud-based data repository and dashboard created by Burnside Digital. According to a post on the Burnside Digital website: “By embedding Impinj Monza RFID chips inside Intel SoC-powered devices, they can be tracked, provisioned, shipped, deployed, and monitored using industry standard RFID readers such as those developed by TSL. Burnside Digital developed the software called IPTrak that ties all these components together.”