Imation unveils 'PC on a Stick'

Imation has revealed IronKey Workspace for Windows To Go, heading their planned line of "PC on a Stick" mobile workspaces for government, enterprises, and BYOD strategies.

The storage and security firm says IronKey Workspace lets organisations outfit mobile professionals with a secure, fast USB platform to run Windows To Go from a USB stick on multiple compatible PCs.

They say this will become an ideal solution for teleworkers, contractors and those implementing BYOD (“bring your own device”) strategies.

Certified for deployment of Windows To Go, the solution lets enterprise users boot a full version of Windows 8 from an external USB drive on compatible host PCs.

“The traditional and static arrangement of the software instance of the user’s workspace bound to a single hardware device no longer fits the personal computing requirements of a growing population of workers and, for that matter, their employers; breaking this software-to-hardware linkage is essential,” says Michael Suby, Stratecast’s vice president of Research at Frost & Sullivan.

“PC on a Stick addresses this need by infusing complete and secure workspace portability into the realm of personal computing.”

Imation says organisations running Windows 8 Enterprise Edition can provision a Windows desktop onto the IronKey Workspace to create a PC on a Stick, with the operating system and data contained on the USB drive.

“Windows To Go is a key feature of Windows 8 Enterprise that will impact the way organisations empower mobile workers," says Stella Chernyak, senior director of product marketing, Windows Enterprise, Microsoft Corp.

"Imation’s IronKey Workspace is one of a handful of drives certified to deliver the Windows 8 desktop experience on a USB flash drive."

Next year, Imation plans to roll out a line of solutions which empower organisations to deploy Windows To Go via its hardware encrypted IronKey flash drives, strong authentication and centralised device management.