Intel is working on geofencing for laptops and tablets

Intel is working on a project called Wireless Credential Exchange that will allow laptops and tablets, or other devices with Intel SOCs, to automatically become unusable if they move outside a certain area. The technology works with RFID chips.

Wireless Credential Exchange brings with it numerous tracking applications for devices with Intel SOCs, writes Burnside Digital, which wrote the software platform and is collaborating with Intel on this. In addition to options for activating or deactivating laptops and tablets in a particular environment, those devices can also leave the factory unusable and only activate when they reach their destination, rendering theft during shipment pointless.

The combination with the rfid chips also offers the possibility to scan systems, read error logs and obtain configuration data, without having to open the box and without having to switch on the device.

Wireless Credential Exchange works through the combination of an Intel soc with a Monza rfid chip from Impinj, an rfid reader from Technology Solutions UK Ltd. and Burnside Digital’s software platform. Both the soc and the rfid reader can write data to the rfid chip, in addition to reading it.

There are also apps for iOS, Windows and Android that can communicate with the RFID reader via bluetooth and the apps work in combination with Amazon’s AWS databases. It is not known to what extent Intel is pushing the system forward among laptop manufacturers and whether third parties can further develop parts or services for the Wireless Credential Exchange platform.

Laptops will not be equipped with this technology as standard; manufacturers can build it into laptops, but it doesn’t have to. It is unknown whether manufacturers have plans for this.