16/12/2003
Customer Background:
Computacenter is Europe's leading independent provider of information technology (IT) infrastructure services. To help its customers maximize the value of IT to their businesses, Computacenter offers services at every stage of infrastructure investment. The company advises customers on IT strategy, implements technology from a wide range of leading vendors and manages elements of their IT infrastructures. At every stage, Computacenter helps minimize the cost and maximize the business benefits of its customers' IT expenditures. Its corporate and government clients are served by a network of branch offices across the UK, Germany, France, Luxembourg and Belgium and, through its international partners, at locations throughout Europe, Asia Pacific and North America.
Business Need:
Computacenter Belgium provides personal computer (PC) technology solutions for a financial markets company that was concerned that its data was vulnerable to theft and corruption if its laptop computers were stolen or lost. To mitigate the risk of sensitive information falling into the hands of unauthorized persons, the company went to Computacenter for a security solution. It was important that the solution be rolled out quickly, with manageable migration and administration costs.
Solution:
Computacenter Belgium offered a security solution using hard disk encryption technology on IBM ThinkPad notebooks. The solution is a combination of IBM ThinkVantage Technologies - Embedded Security Subsystem and Secure Data Disposal - and Safeguard Easy from Ultimaco. Safeguard Easy accesses the Embedded Security Subsystem's protected user store (including certificates and logon credentials) to safeguard against unauthorized users, assuring authenticity throughout the network for both central and remote administration. The solution also protects the end user's operating environment and data by binding the remote platform to the company's infrastructure.
Computacenter Belgium began by deploying approximately 600 IBM ThinkPad T and X Series notebooks equipped with the security technology. It plans to roll out hundreds more as more laptops cycle out of use.
Benefits of the Solution:
Laptop theft is one of the biggest threats to a company striving to secure its IT assets. It is estimated that a company who owns 5,000 laptops will see up to 500 of them lost during their lifecycle. Besides the cost of the unit itself, the potential impact of stolen confidential business intelligence can damage a financial company's competitive edge and its reputation.
The IBM security solution helps mitigate the risk of sensitive information getting into unauthorized hands. Computacenter was able to help its customer not only secure its valuable assets, but also reduce its total cost of ownership by initiating a uniform deployment system worldwide - based on high-quality, reliable IBM laptops.