Hewlett-Packard is attempting to simplify security for small companies lacking IT resources or knowledge.
The company has teamed with Symantec to help small and midsize businesses avoid virus and spyware attacks but will also offer services for patch management and data backup.
HP will charge $20 per month per employee for a new security and data backup service.
HP customers who were present Thursday in New York at the launch of the company's Smart Desktop Management Service said the move can be a big help to businesses.
Chuck Ostrowski, director of IT for Los Angeles law firm Weston Benshoof, said that the math makes sense. "It might not stop something from happening, but it really decreases the risks," he said.
HP said the service will help small and midsize businesses keep critical business processes running and will back up the most important data for customers. But when launching the service, the company was unclear about its commitment to pay up if it lost any customer data. When asked whether it would give compensation, company executives didn't have an answer.
"It's a good question, but I don't know the answer," said Kevin Gilroy, senior vice president and general manager for HP's small and medium-size business unit. "The question that is interesting is how you put a value on that data."
Google creates an animated doodle that features a boy, a girl, Google's search engine, and a jump rope. But might there be darker, more analytical, more troubling interpretations to this tale?
The Silicon Valley online payments startup grew by 1,000 percent last year and is hopeful it can repeat that level of growth this year. To do that, it's had to move away from its early friends-and-family roots and embrace small businesses.
Chamtech's spray-on antenna uses a nano material to provide a low-power boost to antenna range. The wireless-in-a-can product may some day bring an end to unsightly cell towers.
EnerG2 opens a plant to make an engineered carbon that will improve performance of energy storage devices and make storage for start-stop hybrid cars less expensive.
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