So you're afraid your laptops will be stolen and patient data will fall into the hands of unscrupulous outsiders? Here's a potential solution to the problem--one so retro that it's cutting-edge. Hoping to attract shell-shocked healthcare IT managers, at least two hardware vendors have begun to sell laptops that have no hard drive, a move hearkening back to the days of dumb terminals. The intent, of course, is to design a laptop that contains no data to steal. If your key applications don't support a thin-client front end, this may not be the simplest approach to implement, but it's certainly a scorched earth method for avoiding hard-drive based data leaks.

On vendor, Devon IT, has begun selling the SafeBook, a hard drive-less laptop pitched as offering a solution to security and HIPAA compliance problems. The laptop, which sells for about $799, includes Windows XP Embedded and a thin client, but any other applications must be run from the server. Data, of course, remains on the server as well. For network connectivity, the SafeBook supports wireless, Ethernet or 3G broadband, and its battery lasts about six hours. SafeBook competitors include the Neoware m100, which offers a slightly less costly Linux system in addition to its own XPe-based configuration.

Get more background on the thin-client laptop concept:
- visit the SafeBook website
- check out a Neoware m100 review

ALSO: Samsung releases a laptop stocked with 32GB of flash memory, but no hard drive. Article