Computer services player EDS , looking for a sweet spot
in the data storage sector, has launched a new service called Mobile
Information Protection to spearhead data security on PCs as well as a
growing array of mobile devices.
The plan is for the Mobile Information Protection group to focus on
protecting information that is distributed outside a company’s data center
on workers’ desktops, laptops and PDAs.
EDS said the new service extends its Intelligent Storage Services group,
the on-demand service it launched in 2000. It also extends protection to the
desktop, which EDS calls the most-overlooked area when backup policies are
being defined by IT administrators.
The new service arrives as more employees use mobile devices to access
corporate databases and then keep the data stored on those devices with no
clear back-up policy or back-up schedule.
Sandi Scullen, global offering executive for EDS Intelligent Storage
Services, said as employee productivity becomes even more dependent on
mobile computing platforms, corporate information assets are at greater risk
of loss or theft.
EDS’s new service, she said in a statement, “enables continuous backup —
and more importantly, recovery on-demand — and becomes fundamental for the
enterprise to protect corporate assets while also providing a vital
convenience to the individual user.”
EDS said its Mobile Information Protection is based on a design that
deploys 128-bit AES
and software for single-instance storage technology.
In the process of integrating the different elements, EDS is aiming to
reduce the amount of storage capacity and bandwidth that a company needs for
backing up data a key consideration for mobile employees that may have to
resort to a dial-up connection in order to access company data from a remote
location.
EDS is also positioning the Mobile Information Protection service as an
adjunct to its desktop management services practice, which includes more
than 3.3 million desktops that the Plano, Texas outsourcing giant is helping
to manage.
“Critical corporate data left unprotected on laptops and other mobile
devices should send shivers down the spines of C-level executives,” said
Adam Couture, principal analyst with Gartner.
“Although, we all know we should backup our laptops, it is a usually a
pretty low priority until it is too late. Technology that moves PC backup
to an automated background activity overcomes these all too common human
foibles.”