News
Updated RES Tool Adds USB Disk Support
- By Stuart J. Johnston
- November 22, 2005
Real Enterprise Solutions (RES) plans to ship this month an update to its PowerFuse unified management package for Windows.
PowerFuse Edition 2005 adds USB removable disk security, read-only “blanketing” and building block components to simplify configuring desktops, laptops and thin-clients, according to a statement from Alpharetta, Ga. and Amsterdam, Netherlands-based RES.
The latest version’s new security management capabilities include the ability to let administrators restrict access to USB removable disks based on the user, the group or the location – helping to protect corporate data from theft via removable media.
Additionally, “read-only blanketing” adds the ability for administrators to specify local drives as read-only, with the capability to configure exceptions when necessary. The feature is designed to prevent users from accidentally erasing important documents and to enforce security.
PowerFuse 2005 also provides what the company refers to as “building blocks.” A building block is comprised of “a virtual Windows configuration which the administrator can design, test and approve before rolling out the settings to actual Windows desktops in the enterprise . . . significantly reducing the time to configure Windows desktops,” the company’s statement said.
PowerFuse 2005 also features support for what the company refers to as “partly managed workstations,” which enables systems managers to give selected users the ability to install software via a wizard, while providing documentation and tracking. The update also lets administrators host the PowerFuse database on SQL Server 2005.
About the Author
Stuart J. Johnston has covered technology, especially Microsoft, since February 1988 for InfoWorld, Computerworld, Information Week, and PC World, as well as for Enterprise Developer, XML & Web Services, and .NET magazines.