Absolute Unveils Self-Healing Computer Lifecycle Management Solution

Vancouver, Canada: July 28, 2010 – Absolute® Software Corporation (“Absolute” or the “Company”) (TSX: ABT), the leading provider of firmware-based, patented, computer theft recovery, data protection and secure computer lifecycle management solutions, announced today the expansion of its Computrace® persistence technology to support Absolute Manage, Absolute’s lifecycle management solution. 

Beginning today, Absolute Manage will be supported by Computrace persistence technology, becoming the world’s only self-healing lifecycle management solution. With this new capability, the Absolute Manage application agent will self-heal (or automatically reinstall) in the event that it is removed or disabled on a computer being managed by IT. According to a survey of IT professionals in mid-to-large-sized organizations carried out by Info-Tech Research Group, traditional IT asset management technology is vulnerable to user or thief tampering. Approximately 28% of the time, the critical discovery agent installed on computers is disabled – effectively rendering it unreachable for IT staff tasked with managing it. *

According to John Livingston, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of Absolute, “When we set out to revolutionize the way computers are managed and protected, we realized that no single factor is more important than maintaining a consistent, tamper-resistant, virtual tether to each computer. The result of this vision was our patented Computrace BIOS-persistent self-healing technology. This technology is so proven that it is installed at the factory by the world’s leading computer makers. Today, we are taking that fundamental building block to the must-have category of computer lifecycle management solutions. It truly sets Absolute Manage apart from traditional lifecycle management tools.”

Absolute Manage provides organizations with an easy and automated way to manage PC and Mac® computers, as well as Apple mobile devices, from a single interface. IT administrators using Absolute Manage can efficiently manage all their assets by automating time-consuming IT processes.

Some of the capabilities of Absolute Manage include:

• Application & License Management – Deploy software and manage licenses across the network.
• Security, Change & Configuration Management – Remotely monitor and adjust configurations, and execute files.
• Automated Patch Management – Centrally manage and install patches, and report on patch status for all managed systems.
• Computer Imaging - Install a complete OS plus all standard applications onto Mac computers while in use or just out of the box.
• Power Management – Comply with green initiatives and lower total cost of ownership by remotely enforcing power saving policy profiles.
• Asset Inventory – Collect hardware and software data points from devices over the network and analyze the information for timely and fact-based asset management decisions.

With the tamper-resistance provided by persistence technology, IT departments will have an added degree of confidence that despite day-to-day challenges of managing computers, they can count on Absolute Manage to be fully-functional on all of their computers.

“We’ve found that managing mobile users represents the biggest pain point in client management," said Terrence Cosgrove Sr. Research Analyst at Gartner. "The biggest problems with mobile users are visibility and supportability. Our research has found that notebook TCO is about 18% to 23%** higher than that of desktops, largely because of the complicated management situation that notebooks create.”

Support for persistence technology is built into computers from the leading computer manufacturers during the manufacturing process. Each day, Computrace technology silently communicates with the Absolute Monitoring Center over the internet. In the event that Computrace is removed or disabled, Computrace persistence technology will take action to self-heal – ensuring that Computrace remains installed on the client computer.  With the expansion of persistence for Absolute Manage, Computrace technology will also perform a health check for the presence of the Absolute Manage application agent.  If the agent is missing, Computrace technology will initiate the process to reinstall the agent.  Embedded in the firmware, Computrace persistence technology can survive operating system re-installations, as well as hard-drive reformats, replacements and re-imaging.

Persistence technology is available immediately at no additional cost to Absolute Manage customers.

* "Where’s Your Laptop? Incorporating Laptops into IT Asset Management Practices," Info-Tech Research Group, 2010
** Gartner, Inc. New Approaches to Client Management, Terrence Cosgrove, Ronni J. Colville, February 25, 2010