Intel joins Ericsson in war against theft

INTEL AND ERICSSON have announced today their joint plans for making mobile broadband notebooks harder to steal.

The two companies have been working together to make Ericsson's Mobile Broadband Modules compatible with Intel Anti-Theft PC Protection Technology.

Both companies share the goal of reducing the damage caused by having a notebook stolen and believe this collaboration is the key to prevent data loss and intrusion whilst on the go.

The need for protecting notebooks has risen as they have become more popular and are easier to steal because they are made for those on the move. While notebooks' popularity has increased so has the importance of security, since the loss of a notebook can be both financially damaging and detrimental in other ways to enterprise users.

The main idea that has come out of this collaboration is an SMS service that sends a message to the mobile broadband module inside the notebook, causing the system to shut down, making it inoperable.

Once the notebook has been re-located, possibly by using GPS technology that is becoming more common in mobile devices, another SMS can be sent to the machine to unlock it and make the data accessible again.

Mats Norin of Ericsson said, "We share a common vision with Intel about offering consumers and enterprise users a secure mobile broadband experience for their notebooks."

Intel's George Thangadurai said, "We have entered a new era for security for the on-the-go businessperson in which losing a notebook or having it stolen can have disastrous implications."

Intel says that the whole point of this is to make notebook theft for profit a futile act. By teaming up with Ericsson to mitigate the threats of data loss and intrusion, it is also hoping to deter theft as well. µ

L'Inq
Ericsson