William Penn University Chooses Absolute to Protect Student Laptops
Founded in 1873, William Penn University is a small, private liberal arts college located in Oskaloosa, Iowa. While the campus is steeped in history, its approach to learning is very modern, beginning with the student laptop computer program at the University’s College for Working Adults (CWA). Each CWA student is provided with a wireless-enabled laptop computer for use inside and outside the classroom, allowing continuous, hands-on computer use. The campus network features wired or wireless Internet access from every building, enabling students and faculty to enjoy all the benefits of portability.
While the CWA student laptop program is viewed a success by everyone involved, the Information Services Department at William Penn saw two significant challenges to the program: lost or stolen laptop computers, and students dropping out and not returning their laptops to the University. Dan Morgan, Director of Information Services and Curtis Gomes, Information Technology Supervisor at CWA, found a software solution that would assist them in minimizing the effects and occurrences of both: Gateway Mobile Theft Protection powered by ComputraceComplete software by Absolute® Software, which helps recover lost or stolen laptops and can delete data on a remote laptop, rendering the computer useless if not returned after a student drops out.
Not long after implementing the ComputraceComplete solution at the College, Morgan and Gomes noticed a marked improvement in the rate of returned laptops by drop-out students.
“We had a real problem with laptops not being returned to the College after students withdrew from their programs without graduating. Our investment in ComputraceComplete is helping pay for itself by the incentive provided by the remote Data Delete function,” said Gomes. “We can perform any number of reports and operations remotely with ComputraceComplete, from deleting the My Documents folder to removing the operating system, which effectively disables the computer. We’ve only had to do this a few times, however, because word got out pretty quickly that we could do this, and now this particular problem has all but disappeared.”
The theft recovery solution has also been utilized, with unmitigated success. When a student had her laptop stolen from her car in October 2005, Absolute Software helped get it back. Within weeks of the theft, the Des Moines Police Department had the Gateway laptop in their possession – and the University yet more proof that their investment in ComputraceComplete was money in the bank.
If reported lost or stolen, a computer protected by ComputraceComplete discreetly contacts the Absolute Recovery Team with its location information every fifteen minutes online. The Recovery Team logs the details and contacts local authorities.
"It's very likely that the Gateway notebook from William Penn University would have ended up like most other stolen notebooks – never seen again," said Detective William Boggs of the Des Moines Police Department. "This was the first case I worked on that involved a stolen notebook with ComputraceComplete and I was really impressed with how Absolute helped us locate the system. Because of it, the university has their Gateway PC back, and we were able to stop a crime."
When the Des Moines PD got the call, the message from the Recovery Team said it all: “Sorry to take the challenge out of this.”
The Recovery Team was able to provide Det. Boggs with the address, telephone number and name of the person operating the stolen computer, making this theft recovery one of their easiest on record.
Gateway is one of a number of laptop computer manufacturers offering their customers Absolute Software’s proven Computer Theft Recovery and Secure Asset Tracking Solutions™ pre-installed at the factory. Other global leaders partnering with Absolute in providing their customers with optional built-in theft recovery solutions include Dell, Lenovo, HP and Toshiba.
