Keep Asset Barcode Simple.  As you decide how to do your asset tracking, one question is whether you should barcode a unique identifier for the asset or barcode several details about the asset within a barcode (such as a 2D barcode).  Most customers keep it simple and assign a unique value for an asset barcode.  When a handheld scanner reads the barcode or when the barcode value is requested in the web server software, the software will pull up all the details of the asset record based on the unique identifier.  Most customers think 2D could do many interesting things, but after the analysis, most customers decide to keep it simple.