VANCOUVER, Sept. 15 - Absolute Software Corporation, the leading provider of firmware-based, patented Computer Theft Recovery, Data Protection and Secure Asset Tracking solutions, today announced that its newest product offering, Computrace Data Protection, was named Runner-Up in the Software category in The Wall Street Journal's 2006 Technology Innovation Awards competition. Computrace Data Protection enables IT professionals to track large populations of computers and remotely delete files, directories and operating systems on computers that are lost, stolen or nearing the end of their lifecycle.
Winning firms appeared in The Journal Report section of the September 11, 2006, edition of the Wall Street Journal. Absolute will join other prize recipients from firms based in the U.S., India, Austria, Germany, Japan, U.K. and Switzerland at an awards dinner on October 17 at the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, California. The competition received more than 600 applications from two dozen countries. Absolute is the only Canadian firm on this year's list.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Technology Innovation awards honor technological breakthroughs in such areas as software, hardware, the Internet, wireless and broadcasting. Innovations can be in the form of new products, patents, inventions, ideas or services. The innovations should break with conventional processes and should go beyond marginal improvements in existing products and services.
"We are honored to receive the Runner-Up prize for Technology Innovation in Software from the Wall Street Journal," said John Livingston, Chairman and CEO of Absolute Software. "In light of several highly publicized laptop thefts during 2006, computer and data protection have emerged as key issues amongst corporations, educators and government organizations looking to secure their assets and protect sensitive data. This award helps to solidify our position at the forefront of the mobile computer security industry and is a testament to our dedicated staff, ongoing technological innovation and commitment to drive the industry standard for computer theft recovery and secure asset tracking. We congratulate every company that made this esteemed list and look forward to next year's competition."
Cable locks, passwords and data encryption help prevent computer theft, but cannot eliminate it entirely. Gartner Group estimates that 70% of computer crime is perpetrated by insiders - those already in possession of passwords and encryption codes. Computrace Data Protection reduces the risk of confidential information being compromised, helping organizations avoid damaging publicity or litigation. Embedded in the BIOS, or firmware, of most Dell, Fujitsu, Gateway, HP and Lenovo notebook models, the Computrace agent is extremely persistent, and is thus able to survive operating system re-installations, as well as hard drive reformats, replacements and re-imaging.
