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RedBeam RFID, Asset & Inventory Tracking Software

RedBeam RFID, Asset Tracking & Inventory Tracking for Plants, Yards, Tool Cribs & Stockrooms

THE SHORT ANSWER

RedBeam is cloud tracking software sold as three products. RedBeam RFID records items hands-free through fixed and handheld Zebra readers and feeds the reads to your ERP or WMS. Asset Tracking and Inventory Tracking cover the same items on barcodes when RFID isn’t justified yet. Every deployment is scoped and quoted.

Talk to an Expert Find Your Fit
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  • Hands-Free by Default

    Fixed readers record what moves past a dock door, stockroom or workstation with nobody holding a scanner, then hand the reads to the system you already run.

  • Audits in an Afternoon

    Bulk-read a whole room with an RFID handheld instead of walking the building scanning labels one at a time.

  • Barcodes When RFID Isn’t Ready

    Not every item justifies a tag. Asset and Inventory Tracking run on barcodes against the same records, so RFID phases in where it pays rather than all at once.

UNDERSTAND

What RedBeam Does

Track It Without Anyone Scanning

  • Read at the Threshold

    Fixed readers at dock doors, stockrooms and workstations record what moves past them, with no one holding a scanner.

  • Verify What Ships

    Check what’s actually on the pallet against the order before the truck leaves, by the unit or by the container, and trip a light bar or alarm at the door when it doesn’t match.

  • Track the Yard

    Cellular and GPS-equipped readers place trailers and outdoor material where no network has been run.

Know What You Own and Where It Is

  • Find a Specific Item

    Set an RFID handheld to hunt one tag and it gets louder as you close in, so a missing item is minutes of searching rather than an afternoon.

  • Check In & Check Out

    Assign equipment to a person with a due date, and keep the record of who had it and when it came back.

  • Audit-Ready Records

    Every change is stamped with the user and the time, and reports come out in the shape an auditor asks for.

Keep the Right Stock on the Shelf

  • Count Without Closing

    Count one shelf section on a schedule instead of shutting the operation down for a full physical inventory.

  • Receive and Issue

    Scan stock in against a purchase order and out against a work or sales order, using the UPC barcodes already printed on the product.

  • Adjust With a Trail

    Damage and shrink get written off against a user and a timestamp, so the variance has a name attached.

QUALIFY

Who RedBeam Is For

RedBeam puts its own fit at organizations tracking 500 or more assets across multiple locations. Below that, a spreadsheet may still be holding up.

WHO REDBEAM FITS

  • Hands-Free Operations

    Nobody can be spared to scan, and the reads still have to happen.

  • Vendor-Compliance Shippers

    A mis-shipped pallet becomes a retail chargeback before anyone notices it left.

  • Yards and Outdoor Sites

    Trailers and material sitting where no network has been run.

  • Metal-Heavy Assets

    Machines, racking and vehicles that defeat ordinary labels and need on-metal tags.

  • Mixed Barcode and RFID

    Some items justify RFID, most don’t, and you want both in one set of records.

  • Tool Cribs

    Crews lose hours hunting for the tool someone else took and never signed out.

  • Stockrooms

    Running out stops a job, so people overbuy to feel safe.

When Something Else Fits Better

  • You want RFID on readers from another manufacturer. RedBeam RFID is built exclusively for Zebra devices, so readers already installed from another brand won’t feed it.

  • You need continuous, live location of every item. RedBeam records the last reader that saw a tag, not a moving position — that is a real-time location system, and a different class of tool.

  • You need software that directs picking, putaway and shipping, or that holds your orders. RedBeam checks against the system of record; it doesn’t replace it. A warehouse management system does that job.

  • You need to keep working when the network drops. RedBeam is cloud software and requires an internet connection; there is no offline mode.

RedBeam gets deployed against the problems that show up when the records and the floor stop matching: pallets that ship wrong, trailers nobody can place in a yard, fixed-asset lists that don’t survive an audit, tools that walk, and stockrooms that run out while the system says otherwise. If one of those is the reason you’re reading this, it’s worth a conversation.

SIZE IT

RedBeam Products & Deployment Scope

RedBeam sells three products rather than tiered editions, so the question is which one you need, not which level. Every business is unique, so each deployment is scoped and quoted to the operation. Two things usually decide it: whether anyone can be spared to scan, and what you’re tracking — durable assets, consumable stock, or both. Plenty of buyers start on barcodes and add RFID to the same records once the volume justifies it.

RedBeam RFID

INCLUDES

Fixed reader management including power, cool-down, heartbeat and tag protocols; cycle count; shipment verification; mobile device tracking; label printing and encoding; event-based workflows that trip lights, alarms and API calls.

Not included: Continuous live location. Reads are last-known-location at a reader, not a moving position. Readers from any manufacturer other than Zebra.

WHO IT FITS

Operations that can’t spare someone to scan: dock doors, production lines, yards, and supplier-managed stock at customer sites.

Asset Tracking

INCLUDES

A fixed-asset register, barcode or QR labels designed and printed from RedBeam, check-in and check-out with due dates, service history and photos on the record, role-based permissions, and unlimited rooms, departments and buildings.

Not included: Depreciation schedules and the accounting ledger. RedBeam proves the physical register; it doesn’t keep the books.

WHO IT FITS

IT departments, schools, government agencies, construction and manufacturing tool cribs — anywhere durable items are issued, audited and lost.

Inventory Tracking

INCLUDES

Receiving, issuing and adjusting consumables against purchase, sales and work order numbers; cycle counts by location; audit-stamped adjustments; reorder visibility.

Not included: Directed putaway, pick waves and labor planning. Inventory Tracking counts and issues stock; it doesn’t run a warehouse.

WHO IT FITS

Stockrooms, supply cages and parts rooms where a stockout stops work.

ADD-ONS AND DEPLOYMENT

Deployment Model

Cloud only, on a Kubernetes architecture hosted in Google Cloud. No servers, no appliances behind your firewall, nothing installed on-premises.

Tags and Labels

RedBeam designs, prints and encodes barcode, QR, standard UHF and on-metal RFID labels, and re-encodes existing tags from the mobile app. Tags it can’t print — riveted metal plates, zip-tied yard markers — can still be read once they’re in the system.

Security

SOC 2 Type II certified, independently audited for security, availability and confidentiality. Auth0 supports single sign-on with your identity platform. RFID records hold tag IDs and locations only.

Licensing

Licenses cover RedBeam admins and users. Assets can be checked out to anyone in the organization without a license each. [CONFIRM: licensing terms]

REQUIREMENTS

What You Need to Run RedBeam

WHERE IT RUNS

Platform & Setup

  • Deployment

    Cloud SaaS on Google Cloud. Nothing to install; an internet connection is required for cloud synchronization.

  • Browsers

    Chrome on Windows, macOS and Android; Safari on iOS and iPadOS. Latest stable versions.

  • Devices

    Full console on desktop, laptop or tablet. Scanning on smartphones, rugged handheld computers, or a wedge scanner attached to a PC.

  • Mobile App

    Zebra RFID handhelds run RedBeam’s native Android application from the Play Store, over local Wi-Fi or cellular.

WHAT IT MANAGES

Hardware

  • RFID Handhelds

    RFD40 and RFD90 sleds on TC5x and TC22 series mobile computers, TC53e-RFID, and EM45.

  • Fixed Readers

    FX7500, FX9600, ATR7000 for direction of travel, and FXR90 for rugged, cellular and GPS deployments. Fixed installs also need antennas, mounting, power, and network or cellular connectivity.

  • Printers & Encoding

    RFID encoding runs on a Zebra RFID printer such as the ZT411. Barcode and QR labels print from desktop and industrial Zebra printers.

  • Barcode Hardware

    No special hardware required to start. Existing barcode and QR labels scan as they are.

  • Tags

    Passive UHF for most tracking — no battery, powered by the reader. On-metal tags for machines, racking and vehicles. Shipment verification uses GS1 encoding: serialized item tags for units, serialized container codes for pallets, cases and totes.

HOW IT CONNECTS

Integrations & Security

  • Integrations

    REST APIs and user-defined workflows connect RedBeam to ERP, WMS, ITAM, ITSM, CMMS, PMS and FMS systems, and to the system holding your orders when RedBeam verifies a shipment against them. The only requirement on your side is the ability to consume data. All integration runs through the API; RedBeam publishes no prebuilt connectors.

  • Security

    SOC 2 Type II certified. Auth0 authentication with single sign-on. RFID records hold tag IDs and locations only, so sensitive detail stays in your own systems.

CHALLENGE

Common Questions Before Buying RedBeam

What a Rollout Looks Like

  1. 01

    Nothing to Install

    RedBeam is cloud software, so there is no server build and no on-site installation. Setup time is account configuration, not infrastructure.

  2. 02

    Readers and Tag Testing Drive the RFID Timeline

    How many dock doors or checkpoints need readers, what your items are made of, and whether they already carry GS1 tags.

  3. 03

    Most RFID Deployments Pilot First

    One location, then expand once the read rates hold up.

  4. 04

    Barcode Deployments Move Faster

    The work is tagging and training, so the timeline tracks how many items need a label. The timeline lands in your scoped quote either way.

TIP

Count the assets that actually need tagging before the scope call, and separate the metal ones. Tag count drives the barcode timeline and metal drives the RFID one, and those two numbers move a quote more than anything else you’ll be asked.

MORE QUESTIONS BUYERS ASK

  • We Aren’t Ready for RFID. Is That a Problem?

    No, and it’s the common starting point. Asset Tracking and Inventory Tracking run on barcodes alone, on hardware you already own. RFID goes onto the same records later, and existing asset IDs carry over without a full retag — so nothing you do now gets thrown away.

  • Will It Work With the Devices We Already Own?

    For barcode tracking, almost certainly — it runs in a browser on PCs, phones and tablets, and existing labels scan as they are. RFID is different: RedBeam RFID is built exclusively for Zebra readers. Advanced Automation checks your devices against the supported list before you buy anything.

  • Do We Have to Buy a License for Everyone?

    No. Licenses cover the people working inside RedBeam. Equipment can be checked out to anyone in the organization. [CONFIRM: licensing terms]

  • Will Our IT and Security Team Sign Off?

    Usually without much friction. There is nothing to install and nothing behind your firewall. RedBeam is SOC 2 Type II certified with independent audits, uses Auth0 for single sign-on, and stores only tag IDs and locations on the RFID side.

  • Our Yard Has No Network Out There.

    Cellular-equipped Zebra readers such as the FXR90 connect over a carrier network instead of your Wi-Fi, so an outdoor site doesn’t need infrastructure run to it. Note the limit this doesn’t solve: RedBeam needs a connection to sync, and has no offline mode.

  • RFID Won’t Read on Our Metal.

    On-metal tags handle most of it. Advanced Automation tests tags against your actual material first — remotely with demo equipment and sample tags, or on site when the project warrants it — so you find out before the order, not after.

  • We’ll Drown in Stray Reads.

    Readers can be set to ignore tags outside your prefix and to skip items that aren’t moving, so the system records movement rather than everything in range.

  • What Happens When Something Breaks?

    Software goes to RedBeam. Readers, printers, handhelds, labels and tags come to Advanced Automation. If it isn’t obvious which it is, call either one.

  • Can We Try It First?

    RedBeam publishes a 30-day trial of Asset Tracking and Inventory Tracking. Ask us to set it up and we’ll get you into it. [CONFIRM: trial via AAI?]

RESOLVE DOUBTS

RedBeam FAQ

What Is RedBeam?

RedBeam Inc. is a U.S. software company that has built tracking software since 2004 and is part of Strategic Systems & Technology, its parent company. It sells three cloud products — RedBeam RFID, Asset Tracking and Inventory Tracking — and is a Premier Zebra ISV Partner.

How Much Does RedBeam Cost?

Every business is unique, so each deployment is scoped and quoted to the operation. Use Price My Solution below, or request a consult, and we’ll quote yours.

Does RedBeam Connect to Our ERP?

RedBeam connects through REST APIs to ERP, WMS, ITAM, ITSM, CMMS and facilities systems, and can push read events as they happen. The only requirement on your side is the ability to consume the data. Discovery confirms how your system takes it.

Who Do We Call for Support After We Go Live?

RedBeam for anything inside the software. Advanced Automation for readers, printers, handhelds, labels and tags. When it isn’t clear which side it falls on, contact either one.

What Hardware Does RedBeam Work With?

RFID needs Zebra readers — RFD40 and RFD90 sleds on TC5x or TC22 mobile computers, or FX7500, FX9600, ATR7000 and FXR90 fixed readers. Barcode tracking runs in a browser on a PC, phone, tablet or mobile computer, with no specific hardware required.

Can RedBeam Use RFID Readers From Another Manufacturer?

No. RedBeam RFID is built exclusively for Zebra devices, and activating the RFID features requires at least one Zebra RFID reader. If you have readers from another manufacturer already installed, tell us during discovery — it changes the shape of the project.

Is RedBeam a Real-Time Location System?

No. RedBeam records the last reader or handheld that saw each tag. For most tracking that’s enough. If you need to watch something move continuously, that’s a real-time location system and a different technology.

Does RedBeam Work Offline?

No. RedBeam is cloud software and needs an internet connection to synchronize. Zebra’s cellular-equipped readers cover sites with no Wi-Fi, but there is no offline mode.

Can We Start on Barcodes and Add RFID Later?

Yes, and most buyers do. Asset Tracking and Inventory Tracking run on barcodes against the same records RFID will use, so adding readers later doesn’t mean starting over. RedBeam also scans the barcode labels and RFID tags you already have and re-encodes tags in the field, including ones it doesn’t print itself — riveted metal plates, zip-tied yard markers.

Can RedBeam Check a Shipment Against the Order?

Yes. It reads the tags on a pallet or an individual unit as it passes a dock-door reader or a handheld, checks them against the order pulled from your ASN, purchase order or manifest, and flags a mismatch on the spot — a light, an alarm, or a message back to your WMS.

GET STARTED

Scope Your RedBeam Deployment

Tell us where you are and we’ll pick it up from there.

  • Want to Test It First

    See it run against your own work.

    [CONFIRM: trial via AAI?]

    Start a Free Trial

  • I’m Close but Unsure

    Get a scoped price for your sites and devices.

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  • This Is Bigger Than a License

    Talk the whole project through with us.

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Reviewed October 2026