Jamaica has been targetted as a potential market for growth by Hewlett-Packard (HP), the leading technology solutions company listed on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq as having earnings of US$81.8 billion over the last four quarters ending January 31, 2005.

"We are seeing revenue growth in about 30 countries, but this 'Solutions Tour' is really aimed at government and private entities who are concerned about reducing cost, increasing sales and overall productivity," Hugo Olivera, Hewlett-Packard's product manager for Latin America and the Caribbean, told the Observer.

HP therefore deposited in Jamaica last week a seven-man team which later moved on to Trinidad and Tobago - the only other English-speaking Caribbean country included in the hemispheric tour aimed at increasing the firm's market share in Notebooks and desktop PCs.

Other countries on the tour were Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Dominican Republic and Guatemala.

With this objective, HP is offering, for the first time in its history, its most extensive Notebook line to help managers and organisations balance the juggling act between cost and productivity.

HP, pioneer of the now general practice of "taking the office with you", made its push into the region armed with market studies indicating that 50 per cent of desktop PC users feel that their level of satisfaction at work would increase if they could work on the move.

"We have seen the move away from exclusivity where the CEO or GM controls the only laptop or Notebook in the company," Olivera said. "With increased technology and the need for higher productivity, Notebooks have become a necessary tool in order for professionals to perform at the optimum level more effectively."

Wireless Fidelity, or WiFi, may be considered the greatest innovation for any travelling professional, but there is an unwanted advantage to hitting the office while the professional is on another continent. WiFi - the common term for high-frequency wireless local-area network - if unprotected can be targetted by hackers on the lookout for a free ride on the Internet.

Hewlett-Packard has therefore added innovative security tools to its new line of products to counteract the fear of hacking or illegal access.

There are no guarantees to the level of security at any of the access points, as the floating data is basically unprotected. But through SmartCards, access bios and encrypted passwords, HP is offering its users easy accessible tools that will make it nigh impossible for hackers to get in.
But Olivera offers a word of warning to those who are seeking an absolute fool-proof technology.

"Wireless is a public access, and a lot of companies forget that an access point is not limited to the confines of say, this hotel, for example," Olivera said in the interview at the Hilton Kingston Hotel. He added that he could not and would not be staying in the hotel if there were no wireless access.

"Wherever I am, I have to be able to continue working out of my office in Puerto Rico. That is critical to the choices I make", Olivera added.

But a Sunday Observer story published on April 17 and highlighting the ease with which wireless access points can be hacked into has scared some companies in the New Kingston area into terminating the access points.

HP's Olivera said some of that fear may be averted by the tools that are now available with the use of the Compaq Notebook PCs such as the Smart Card Reader and the HP drivelock technology.

These new PCs are not only lightweight - 1.4 inches, 6.1 lbs - scratch/dent resistant with liquid guard on the keypad, but are described by Olivera as "smart, mobile, office Notebooks for the cost-conscious professional".

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