the Pipeline

Mad Max's PC

Hewlett-Packard Co. officials have launched two new notebook computers as part of their Smart Office initiative. The HP Compaq Business Notebook nx5000 is lightweight, while the HP Compaq Business Notebook nx9110 is suitable for replacing a desktop PC, company officials said.

HP built wireless connectivity and a nine-hour battery into the nx5000 for the road warrior who needs to stay mobile. The company is targeting small and midsize organizations for the nx5000, said Ramona Thibeault, vice president for business notebooks in HP's North America

division.

The sturdier nx9110 offers a 15.4-inch screen, up to 2G of memory and 80G of hard drive space. It's for road warriors who also spend a fair amount of time in the office.

For road warriors who throw their computers around a lot, HP has also introduced a ruggedized notebook and a ruggedized tablet PC. The Rugged Notebook nr3600 and the Rugged Tablet PC tr3000 are designed to withstand rain, dust, extreme temperatures and long rides in old cars on rutted roads with people throwing sticks at you.

These products comply with the standard military rugged specification and offer an Ingress Protection rating of IP54, which specifies the environmental protection a device provides against liquids and solid objects such as rain and dust.

Securing the base

AT&T has introduced two new security services, AT&T Internet Protect and AT&T Personal Firewall. With an eye on agencies and businesses, the company is touting the services as weapons against cyberattacks.

With the new services, AT&T is "extending the management of security vulnerabilities from a company's network to all of its remote endpoints," according to company officials.

Internet Protect alerts customers of potential threats before they become full-fledged attacks. The company is sweetening the offer with a guarantee: If AT&T fails to notify a customer of a network-based

denial-of-service attack before the customer reports it, the customer will be credited the charges for AT&T Internet Protect for that month's service.

Configuresoft Inc. has created a new version of its Enterprise Configuration Manager (ECM) that, officials say, will eliminate security vulnerabilities on mobile Microsoft Corp.

Windows-based systems.

ECM automatically assesses and corrects configuration settings on remote machines every time they connect to the internal network in a systematic effort to close security holes.

ECM also provides assessment templates that help organizations comply with regulatory requirements by enforcing information technology configurations that are consistent with security best practices defined by the SANS Institute, Microsoft and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Follow me

CryptoCard Corp., a developer of authentication technology, recently launched Crypto-Server 6.1, which includes the company's newly developed Follow-Me Computing functionality. Follow-Me Computing enables users logging on to servers based on Citrix Systems Inc. or MS Terminal Services to start a remote single sign-on session by inserting their CryptoCard multifunction smart card or new USB dongle token and then entering their personal identification number.

After logging off, they can remove their authentication device and reinsert their smart card or USB dongle token and enter their PIN at another terminal to resume the same session at the point at which it was suspended.

Follow-Me Computing ensures that users have to log off after a session before moving around the office. The aim is to eliminate any risks associated with users leaving a computer logged on.