EMC to Handle Mobily Data

Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) has chosen EMC to provide business continuity services.

“Mobily already has a solid customer base, and we are now in the process of expanding our network to reach more customers in the Kingdom,” said Ahmed Hassan, CIO of Mobily. “To attract and retain those customers, we rely upon various elements and one of them is a solid information system enabling us to provide the highest level of services, so it is essential that those systems and data are available to us at all times.”

The Saudi GSM operator will deploy systems from the EMC Symmetrix DMX-3 series of enterprise level networked storage systems at two sites in the Kingdom. More than 120 terabytes (one terabyte is approximately equal to 1,000GB) of data will be managed by the system. Symmetrix DMX-3 systems will also give Mobily full replication capabilities and failover protection to ensure high availability for all of its applications and information, assuring fast access to vital data such as call records, customer details and e-mails.

“We have selected EMC’s integrated storage solutions because they are able to meet and exceed the very demanding requirements that we have for business continuity and disaster recovery,” said Hassan. “Telecom operators have to have an ‘always-on’ service, and by deploying these solutions at two main sites, we will be able to duplicate all of our essential systems, to ensure constant availability for our systems.”

The project with Mobily will include EMC’s industry standard storage platform, advanced business continuity software as well as direct support and consultancy from EMC’s personnel in the Kingdom.

Who Can Be Trusted?

Corporations are increasing resources devoted to security, but many executives question whether those efforts are really paying off. Almost one in every three of the more than 1,700 senior-level corporate and technology leader respondents in a new US/UK survey do not trust their companies’ own ability to handle private or sensitive information, and that same number are either unsure or don’t believe that most of their business partners consider them to be trusted enterprises.

These and other findings are part of a broad research project, the “Unisys Trusted Enterprise Index,” a first-of-its-kind survey measuring the importance, impact and influence of trust, privacy and security within the corporate world. Conducted in partnership with the Ponemon Institute, a privacy research organization, the study also found that despite a growing awareness of risk management and security issues in the corporate world, more than one-third of companies polled do not task senior leaders with protecting the trust that customers, investors and even their own employees have in those companies.

The research is part of a broader multiyear global initiative, the Unisys Trusted Enterprise Index. The index will serve as a comprehensive tool for companies and governments to better redefine their own security and business processes for greater impact and visibility into the cause and effect relationships between business and technology goals.

The first phase of the research polled CEOs and other senior business executives as well as senior IT executives at leading US and UK companies, and found a clear disconnect between the views of business leaders and technology leaders on the factors that build and erode trust. IT leaders placed a much stronger emphasis on protecting privacy and IT security while business leaders focused on more financial-oriented measures.

Business Leaders:

• Business leaders place value on risk management and good corporate governance practices to build trust much more than do IT leaders.

• Business leaders believe negative cash flows, a lack of shared values and weak fiscal management are much more likely to erode trust than do IT leaders.

Technology Leaders:

• IT leaders believe that positive media coverage, IP protection and responsible marketing practices build trust much more than do business leaders.

• IT leaders find inadequate intellectual property protection, weak privacy and undependable IT erodes trust much more than do business leaders.

Geographically, the top three most and least trusted industries are:

• US — Most trusted: Retail banking, health care and professional services vs. Least trusted: Insurance, telecomm and entertainment and media.

• UK — Most trusted: Retail banking, local government, education and professional services vs. Least trusted: Entertainment and media, health care and retailing.

“Trust is an intangible asset that is often overlooked until it is too late,” said Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of Ponemon Institute. “Many companies devote tremendous dollars and resources to increasing market value, but as our research proves, in order to build trust among customers, employees and investors, they may be focused on the wrong factors, or ignoring the right ones altogether.”

The research underscores that while more quantifiable factors such as compliance and financial performance tend to get the attention of boards and their leaders, “softer” factors that build trust — how a company treats customers or motivates employees — need equal attention.

Lenovo Launches New Security Solutions

Lenovo has introduced the first ThinkPad notebooks using security technologies from Utimaco that enable people to fully encrypt the contents of their hard drive with a single swipe of their finger. Lenovo also announced improvements in wireless connectivity and processing performance such as 802.11n technology and the Intel Core2Duo processor to the ThinkPad line, and a new relationship with Softex to provide a comprehensive new authentication management tool.

Lenovo worked with Utimaco to integrate and offer SafeGuard Easy 4.30, a software program that encrypts information on the hard drive with the single swipe of a fingerprint reader on select ThinkPad notebooks. SafeGuard Easy software has received FIPS 140-2 certification from the US government. The government requires this certification when purchasing encryption products. Lenovo ThinkPad notebooks are the first to offer this layered security solution, which currently provides one of the highest levels of data protection available on mobile PCs. Such protection is increasingly important as financial losses due to unauthorized PC access and theft have risen.

“Statistics show few stolen computers are ever recovered, and companies today know the increasing numbers of stolen notebooks bring a high risk for data and identify theft,” said Bob Galush, vice president software and peripherals, Lenovo. “Every person carrying unencrypted sensitive information on a notebook PC is at risk. Thinkpad and Utimaco’s SafeGuard Easy will help customers better manage this security risk.”

Lenovo has also expanded its security portfolio by offering a more integrated way for companies to centrally manage fingerprint templates and other authentication credentials and policies. Lenovo will make available Softex’s OmniPass software for PC authentication management including fingerprints and passwords on select Lenovo PCs.

“Not only are businesses focused on PC security, they want to manage it effectively,” said Galush. “Softex’s OmniPass software gives them the control they need over multiple systems while at the same time helping to reduce IT support costs by minimizing password reset requests.”