IBM's Rapid Restore software restores corrupt operating environments on Fenner Drives' laptops in about 15 to 20 min, as opposed to hours.
REFORMATTING A CORRUPT PC OR LAPTOP TOOK ABOUT three to four hours at Fenner Drives, a manufacturer of industrial-belting, powertransmission, and motion-control components. As a midsized business with 300 employees, divisions in Manheim, Pa., and Wilmington, N.C., and a limited IT staff, the company decided to incorporate special software that restores a system in about 15 to 20 min. As a result, support time for PC recovery has dropped 90%.
Each of Fenner's IBM desktop PCs and ThinkPad notebooks stores Rapid Restore software from IBM's ThinkVantage Technologies. The software backs up and then quickly recovers the PC-operating environment in case of an emergency such as a virus or software crash. A single keystroke launches a program that lets Fenner restore the environment to the lastsaved, customized working condition.
With Rapid Restore, small to medium-sized businesses save by giving employees the ability to fix many software failures without resorting to a help desk.
"We chose IBM for many reasons — pricing, competitive advantage, and its ThinkVantage Technologies — but its sales staff far exceeded our company's expectations," says Jon Blomeier, PC-andnetworksupport technician at Fenner. "It was committed to our specific needs as a medium-sized business."
