Dell Provides One-Stop Source For Compliance, Protection & Recovery Security Software

[Nikos Kartalis]

To help customers meet security challenges like data protection, asset-monitoring and PC theft recovery, Dell is enabling stronger support for Absolute Software's Computrace program in most of its mobile platforms.

Dell already offers Computrace security software as an option on systems through its build-to-order model and Custom Factory Integration (CFI) services, with three-year subscriptions starting at $99.99. Starting immediately, most new Dell notebook computers will include support embedded in the system BIOS firmware, making the optional Computrace tracking and recovery application harder to defeat. To activate Computrace, customers need to purchase the service component from Dell or Absolute. Current Dell notebook users can download a new system BIOS that includes stronger Computrace support from http://support.dell.com.

A range of customers are already experiencing the full value of Dell through these enhanced security offerings. Quinnipiac University, Grant Thornton LLP and Jubilee Home Solutions each turned to Dell to help manage and secure far-flung mobile PC assets. Each organization deploys systems pre-configured with Computrace to help meet security challenges like regulatory compliance, data protection, and asset tracking and recovery.

Quinnipiac University took steps to increase recovery of lost or stolen personal computers on campus. Dell LatitudeTM D610 notebooks provided to incoming freshmen and faculty are preconfigured with Computrace theft-recovery software. The decision paid off, according to the university, with the recovery of several computers that turned up missing without leaving a traditional evidence trail for investigators. "We needed embedded support from Dell to help provide a secure and effective tool for hardware and software inventory tracking, and to help provide recovery of lost or stolen systems," said Fred Tarca, director of administration and project management, information services at Quinnipiac. "With Dell's support of Computrace in system BIOS firmware, we can locate a missing system if it connects to the Internet, even if the hard drive is removed."

Grant Thornton LLP, an accounting firm with 50 locations across the U.S., was faced with the challenge of meeting strict regulatory compliance guidelines for protecting sensitive data and tracking geographically dispersed systems. Using Dell factory installation of the Computrace software on Dell client systems, the company can now audit, track and control 99.7 percent of its assets. "We follow a rigorous life cycle process complicated by deploying systems in remote locations," said Dave Johnson, director of infrastructure technology, Grant Thornton. "By combining Dell's build-to-order model with the ComputraceComplete offering, we can track and manage our notebooks in a highly mobile, distributed workforce."

Jubilee Home Solutions, headquartered in Kansas City, Mo., specializes in bathroom and kitchen remodeling and has offices throughout the Midwest. Estimators and designers routinely carry Dell notebook computers between offices and current and future customers' homes, and Jubilee helps ensure sensitive customer data is protected by configuring each notebook with remote data deletion capability via Computrace software. "Our estimators and designers carry their notebooks with them everywhere, top priorities are to make sure that customer data and intellectual property are protected," said Joe Leimer, Jubilee's manager of information technology. "Purchasing Dell notebooks configured with ComputraceComplete helps us curb the threat of theft or misuse and helps ensure the security of sensitive data in case of loss or theft."



Visit | Dell