In a podcast on the Security Vibes portal, run by IT security analyst Ben Chai, Duncan Mee, a director of WinMagic, said that the technology is simple to use and will act a deterrent to laptop theft as it can auto-disable the laptop if it does not 'call home' regularly.

The Intel technology can also disable access to the remote computer on demand, once the machine is connected to the internet. Andy Cordial, managing director with Origin Storage, the storage systems integration vendor, says this will make laptops a less attractive target for thieves.

Thieves will, he says, be effectively left with a high-tech doorstop on their hands when the Intel AT system is triggered, either remotely, or if the laptop fails to call home within the required period.

According to Cordial, the WinMagic solution is a powerful proposition and one that Origin bundles with its self-install encrypted drive kits for laptops, which were launched at the Infosecurity Europe show earlier this year.

The key to the WinMagic solution, says Cordial, is that it operates at the BIOS level, making it both efficient and robust, and means that the encryption and decryption technology is transparent to the end user of the laptop.

This approach, he says, is what makes the Intel AT technology an equally powerful proposition, since it means the attractiveness of laptops will steadily decrease as more and more notebook PCs have the technology installed at their heart.

"As Duncan [Mee] at WinMagic says, Intel's AT technology gives companies a much more powerful method of controlling access to a remote laptop and, of course, the machine does not need to be connected to the internet for the technology to be triggered on a time-out basis," he said.