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 encryption on integrated servers, storage, 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.”