May 18, 2009, 6:50 AM — Following news that HP has recalled 70,000 lithium batteries, anybody with a sizeable investment in HP / Compaq notebooks now faces the unenviable task of having to determine exactly what machines they have in their inventory, who has hold of them and where in the organization they are.
For anyone with a network of more than 500 or so PCs, that’s going to be quite a task. Imagine (or maybe you don't need to...) you've got a highly mobile workforce, spread across many states, but no centralized inventory records to know the exact specification and location of each machine that's been deployed.
Thankfully, good Discovery can dramatically ease the task at hand, by presenting IT managers with an accurate inventory of exactly what PCs are on the network. Tools like Centennial Discovery can even identify individual models, making it far easier to determine exactly which PCs on the corporate network are affected by the recall. Effective Discovery tools can also help minimize the disruption caused by managing the recall, identifying spare machines in stores that can be redployed to replace machines that are temporarily out of action.
In 2006, Sony initiated a massive recall of batteries, which were at risk of over-heating and catching fire. Some airlines even banned notebook use during flight for safety reasons. The risk of a similar ban this time round should be more than enough to prompt many organizations into swift action.
A list of affected HP and Compaq notebook models can be found here.
