IBM is adding new features to its ThinkPad
notebooks it claims will help system administrators sleep better at night.
The company’s upcoming ThinkPad T43 computers will support not only
Intel’s latest Pentium M processor (Centrino Sonoma) and PCI Express
interconnects but also a new technology called “Antidote.”
The software allows an administrator to set security policies
throughout the network including a feature that cleans out all the
connected systems and then blocks them from re-infection. The designs
for the T43 laptop were in the works well before IBM agreed to sell
its PC division to China’s Lenovo Group.
Antidote is part of IBM’s ThinkVantage proprietary system designs
and
is part of the company’s Rescue and Recovery v-2.0 management software.
Rescue and Recovery is a set of tools that sit inside a pre-boot
emergency system so an administrator can jump right to fixes for a
broad
range of common problems, even if the main operating system already has
been corrupted by a worm or virus.
IBM’s new Antidote technology follows in the footsteps of Big Blue’s
other ThinkPad technologies, including its anti-shaking airbag and
fingerprint authentication features that debuted in previous T-series
notebooks.
“The addition of the ThinkPad T43 to our notebook family underscores
our commitment to quality, innovation, and to meeting demand for secure
notebook computing,” said Deepak Advani, vice president of marketing with
IBM
Personal Computing Division and a future Lenovo executive.
Earlier this month, IBM reiterated its commitment to porting its ThinkVantage technologies as part its sale to and five-year transition with Lenovo Group.
The T43 is available with the new Intel 915 Express chipset family,
and Intel PRO/Wireless 2195ABG or 2200BG network connection. The laptop
with a starting price of $1,499 supports up to 2GB DDR2 533MHz system
memory, up to 80GB hard drive capacity and has one Express Card slot
and
one PC Card slot.
The laptop also comes standard with an Intel Graphics Media
Accelerator 900, making it the first model of the T series to include
an
integrated graphics processor. IBM will also upgrade the T43 with
either
an ATI RADEON X300 or ATI Mobility FireGL V3200 graphics adapters.
