Toshiba Taps IBM Software to Create More Secure and Energy-Efficient Laptops

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Mar 06, 2012, 04:00 ET

LAS VEGAS, March 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Toshiba Corporation (TOKYO:6502) today announced that Toshiba's new line of enterprise laptop PCs will be integrated with IBM software, providing energy management and advanced endpoint security protection. Toshiba plans to sell the new lines of enterprise PCs and its integrated solution globally in mid-2012.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090416/IBMLOGO )

With the growing use of laptops by organizations, there are several important factors to consider, including today's 24/7 work environment that requires many users to keep laptops running around the clock—not always in power-saving modes. Stolen laptops are also one of the biggest causes of data breaches to organizations in 2011(1). This directly relates to laptops that contain confidential data requiring higher security measures to protect them if stolen or misplaced. Multiply these behaviors across all employees in an organization, and the security risks, energy costs and environmental impacts rise.

To address this, Toshiba and IBM jointly developed a better way to manage energy use and secure data in laptops. Toshiba's new line of enterprise laptop PCs will combine IBM software based on its Tivoli Endpoint Manager and Toshiba's enhanced BIOS feature to allow IT managers to apply company's specific policies for energy controls and security across PCs within an organization.

With this solution, energy usage data is measured by the PC hardware, which allows more accurate readings of power consumption. This design allows the IT staff to remotely apply each group of PCs into specific power saving modes or make peak-shift management changes as needed to deliver better energy efficiency gains.

To provide better security, the Toshiba laptop PC with the IBM software provides:

Patch management capability that automatically adapts necessary patches with minimum impact for network bandwidth and IT staff's workload. A single patch management server can support up to 250,000 PCs, shortening patch times and updates without losing PC functionality, even over low-bandwidth or globally distributed networks.

Access Control to data, which prevents PCs from starting up, being logged on and being screen-unlocked unless the PCs are authenticated by the management server. When a PC has no connection to the server, the USB portable memory with the signature file can be used to authenticate the PC instead of the server. And IT staff can protect the stored data by preventing a third party from operating a laptop when the laptop is lost or stolen. In addition, IT staff can define the policy to prohibit writing to external storage and printing when the PC is not authenticated against the management server.

"IBM's endpoint management capabilities combined with Toshiba's BIOS and power-saving technologies allow for superior energy and security controls," said Taro Hiyama, Chief Marketing Executive, Digital Products & Services Company of Toshiba Corporation. "Starting with these controls, Toshiba's goal is to continually integrate value-added device management functions in its enterprise laptop PCs used in the IBM Tivoli Endpoint Manager solution. IBM software helps us accomplish this goal."

IBM combines endpoint and security management into a single solution with the Tivoli Endpoint Manager to allow IT managers to visualize and manage physical and virtual endpoints. Organizations can better secure and manage their IT assets and gain visibility, control and automation into their most time-intensive IT tasks, such as patch management and asset inventory.

"As endpoint devices such as laptops proliferate inside and outside an organization, it's important that the right security and management policies are in place no matter where the device is located," said Daniel Sabbah, General Manager, IBM Tivoli Software. "IBM software embedded into Toshiba laptops allows organizations to easily oversee these devices to help manage energy efficiency and security of the data that resides on them."

Moving forward, Toshiba and IBM aim to extend the technical vision to broader endpoint devices and to develop advanced device management functions and controls, over and above the power and security management for them.

For more information on IBM Tivoli Endpoint Manager visit: http://www-01.ibm.com/software/tivoli/solutions/endpoint/.

For more photos and information on news at the IBM PULSE conference in Las Vegas, visit: http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/presskit/37001.wss.

1) According to Risk Based Security's 2011 year-end Data Breach Intelligence report. http://www.idtheftcenter.org/artman2/uploads/1/ITRC_Breach_Report_2011_20120207.pdf.

Contact:

Kara Yi

IBM Media Relations

(415) 545-6742

[email protected]

Mari Mikami

Toshiba Corporation

Corporate Communications Office

+81-3-3457-2105