HP offers S'pore SMBs more IT security aid
Hewlett-Packard has expanded its partnership with Singapore's Institute of Technical Education (ITE) to provide new security services and resources to small and midsize businesses (SMBs) in the island-state.
The broadened collaboration will strengthen the HP-ITE alliance, which aims to nurture entry-level infocomm security professionals and assist SMBs in their IT security projects, the two organizations said in a statement Tuesday.
The new additions are an online portal for staff and students of ITE and the HP-UX security community, security assessment services, a technology lab and a resource center for project development. They will be hosted and offered out of the ITE-HP Infocomm Security Resource Centre located in ITE College East, which was unveiled in April this year.
According to the statement, members of the HP-UX community portal can access security technology updates, whitepapers, Web-based training modules and project management tools as well as share technical information with HP-Unix experts and application developers through a discussion forum.
The new portal will also be incorporated in the ITE Higher Nitec in Network Security course, where students can book computing resources such as server capacity, for use in their school projects. Similarly, SMBs can tap on such resources--available at no charge at the resource center--for their IT security projects.
Staff and students of ITE will offer SMBs services including security audits. They will also help identify areas of improvement in the security of IT environments, such as by developing "OS hardening" reports. Singapore-based retailer Mohamed Mustafa & Samsuddin, a HP-UX customer since 1995, was cited by HP and ITE as a user of the OS hardening service.
Mr Roger Lee, president of the ITE Alumni which includes many SMB players, said in the statement: "SMBs need to secure their IT environments but want cost-effective solutions and services to do so. I am sure many will find the new offerings from the ITE-HP Infocomm Security Resource Centre relevant and attractive."