A system and method for uniquely identifying computer and support infrastructure equipment in a rack and to determine the physical location of the equipment within the rack. In one embodiment, a set of communication ports is installed in the rack, with each communication port representing a physical rack location unit. The equipment is queried via the equipment's communication port, which is coupled to one of the communication ports in the rack. Equipment which does not support identification through some protocol has its identification information stored in an intelligent device which can be queried through the same set of communication ports. A management module collects the equipment information and location and aggregates the information for the entire rack. This information can then be queried by a remotely over the network.