We are all familiar with Window’s BSOD, (Blue Screen of Death). Well IBM developed their own personal jumper cable to counter the BSOD. It was first shown at the IBM Partnerworld 2005 in Vegas. IBM developed Linux technology which would change a personal device into a rescue and recovery device. You can read the story on the kernalthread blog. Here is an excerpt with a list of functions it performs …
Booting a PC “from” the personal device
Accessing data from the PC’s unbootable drive
Accessing specific backups located on the personal device
Providing an emergency productivity environment (e-mail, Lotus Notes, web, …), even if the PC’s drive is completely dead
Rebuilding the PC’s drive
An iPod mini was used in the PartnerWorld demonstration. I think it’s cool because we are packaging all this functionality into personal devices that people won’t find a chore to carry around, and in many cases, already carry around. Moreover, the original purpose of the personal device is unaltered. For example, if it’s an MP3 player, it will remain so.