Smart Cards: HP Corporate PCs, Notebooks, Workstations Now Optimized for Smart Cards; Smart-card-ready Program Kicks Off HP ProtectTools Initiative for Secure PC Clients - Company Business and Marketing

Edge: Work-Group Computing Report, Oct 12, 1998

Hewlett-Packard Company Monday unveiled a smart-card-ready program for ensuring secure PC clients within a corporate network.

Now all HP Vectra PCs, HP Kayak PC Workstations and HP OmniBook notebook PCs come specially optimized for speedy installation and deployment of smart-card readers from industry leaders Gemplus and Schlumberger.

Monday's announcement begins a larger HP initiative, called HP ProtectTools, to increase security within the network. An extension of HP's award-winning corporate PC manageability, the initiative is designed to eliminate common internetwork security risks, such as illegal log-ins and data access, with secure PC clients. The initiative incorporates a corporate security strategy that starts with the client and extends to the firewall for new levels of IT flexibility. For example, IS managers can expand the boundaries of their networks to include links with outside partners and can easily give additional workforce, such as temporary workers, secured access to the network. These capabilities are designed to save money and increase efficiency without compromising corporate security.

Smart Cards Meet the Corporate Network HP's smart-card-ready program consists of HP Vectra PCs, HP Kayak PC Workstations and HP OmniBook notebooks that are thoroughly tested for compatibility with Gemplus and Schlumberger smart-card readers, ensuring that this new variety of corporate PC peripheral is as fast and easy to install as a printer. Based on the PC/SC standard, these smart-card readers are fully compatible with the Microsoft Windows platform. In addition, the latest drivers and BIOS updates for the Gemplus and Schlumberger products are easily downloadable from the HP Web site.

"Microsoft is happy that HP is making its PC offerings smart-card ready," said Karan Khanna, lead product manager at Microsoft Corp. "Now our mutual business customers can easily take advantage of the smart-card support that Windows offers and get enhanced security on HP systems."

Smart-card technology offers numerous security advantages to the corporation, including the following:

o users can log-in from any PC on the network, enabling "roaming" between PCs and easy import of temporary or flex-time personnel;

o a "digital signature" on the card provides instant proof of sender identity and message authentication;

o permanent encryption keys ensure that stored information is transmitted easily without compromising confidentiality;

o chip circuitry containing smart-card "intelligence" is tamper-proof, becoming void upon exposure to light;

o sensitive information is stored on the card itself, unlike biometric user-authentication solutions, which store data within a system database, where it has the potential to be accessed illegally; and

o in addition to user authentication, smart cards can display an employee's identification photograph and double as a swipe card, providing the holder with access to company buildings and other facilities.

HP ProtectTools for Secure Corporate Clients The smart-card-ready program launches HP ProtectTools, an initiative that will encompass HP's existing hardware security features, such as chassis-intrusion detection and master-pass-key system, as well as such features available through TopTools as crash and virus protection, remote system lock-down and remote password management. During the next year, HP intends to evolve ProtectTools into a comprehensive security strategy that will encompass the latest security standards and technologies, as they become available.

"Our customers have been looking for ways to make their IT systems more stable and primed for growth," said Achim Kuttler, marketing manager for HP's Commercial Computing Division. "The benefit of a security strategy that starts at the client and extends to the firewall means that new efficiencies, such as secure links with key vendors and `roaming' PC users, can now be realized without compromise."

FMI: http://www.hp.com/go/vectra.

Information about HP and its products can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.hp.com.