Absolute Software Corporation

History

Founded in 1993 with a team of 80 employees in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Absolute’s primary goal was to create a product that would enable individuals and businesses to manage, track and secure computers regardless of the physical location of the device.

In 2000, Absolute became a publicly traded company on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX).

In 2005, Persistence technology by Absolute was embedded for the first time into the firmware or BIOS of a computer. This was the start of an ongoing partnership with most major original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) where Absolute technology ships with the hardware from the factory.

Absolute’s regional presence in Europe was first established in November 2006, with an office in Newbury, UK, to expand Absolute’s international operations. In July 2009, a second regional office was opened in Austin, Texas, to serve as a base for Absolute’s U.S.-based sales team. In September 2012, a third regional office was opened in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

In 2007, Absolute achieved Gold Certified Partner Status in the Microsoft Partner Program, a distinction provided by Microsoft to technology companies that have demonstrated expertise in Microsoft-based technologies.

In December 2009, Absolute announced its acquisition of the LANrev product suite, a comprehensive computer systems management software application, from Pole Position Software. Following the acquisition, the product suite was rebranded as Absolute Asset Management, and eventually renamed as Absolute Manage.

In November 2012, Absolute acquired the assets of LiveTime Software, a privately held helpdesk and IT Service Support Management (ITSSM) provider. LiveTime assets were officially relaunched as part of Absolute’s expanded product suite in January 2013 as Absolute Service, an IT Service Management (ITSM) solution. Absolute Service received PinkVERIFY ITIL 3 Certification from Pink Elephant.

Absolute was identified as a Visionary Vendor in the Gartner Inc. Magic Quadrant for Client Management Tools from 2012 to 2014, and was positioned in the Niche quadrants of the Magic Quadrant for Mobile Device Management Software and the Magic Quadrant for Content-Aware Data Loss Prevention in 2013.

In June 2013, Absolute acquired Palisade Systems, a privately-held provider of data loss prevention (DLP) technologies.

In October 2013, Absolute launched an integrated student and device protection initiative called Absolute Safe Schools, which educates students and staff of participating schools on the safe use of mobile devices and provides assistance in the event of device loss and theft. Through this program, which operates in conjunction with Absolute endpoint security products, the Absolute Investigations team works with local law enforcement agencies to recover protected devices after a theft.

In December 2013, John Livingston stepped down as Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the Board of Directors at Absolute. Following this announcement, Daniel Ryan took on the role of Chairman of the Board, while Chief Financial Officer Errol Olsen served as interim CEO during the search for a successor. On June 13, 2014, Geoff Haydon was appointed Chief Executive Officer and Director of Absolute. Prior to Absolute, Geoff Haydon served as Chief Operating Officer of EMC Asia Pacific and Japan. Former McAfee executive Christopher Bolin joined Absolute as Chief Product Officer on February 19, 2015, in order to develop Absolute’s global product strategy.

As part of a comprehensive rebranding strategy, Absolute changed its product nomenclature, renaming Computrace to Absolute Data and Device Security (DDS) in July 2015.

On July 16, 2015, Absolute announced its intention to divest Absolute Manage and Absolute Service. The sale of these products to HEAT Software was completed in October 2015 for an approximate gross total of USD$11.0 million.

Products and services

Absolute’s flagship product is Absolute Data and Device Security (DDS), formerly known as Computrace. Absolute DDS relies on patented Persistence technology, which is embedded into the firmware of most computers, tablets, and smartphones at the factory.

The Persistence module is activated once the Absolute DDS agent is installed. If the software client is removed from a device through flashing the firmware, replacing the hard drive, reimaging the device, or resetting the device back to factory settings, Persistence technology will trigger an automatic reinstallation of the software client. Persistence technology is embedded in more than half a billion devices worldwide.

Partnerships

Absolute has ongoing partnerships with many OEMs globally, who embed Persistence technology by Absolute into the firmware of their devices at the factory. Strategic partnerships include Dell, Lenovo, Hewlett-Packard, and Samsung. Dell was one of Absolute’s early customers before becoming a supplier for Absolute. President of Dell Canada Kevin Peesker noted that Dell has “been able to be there with them providing them scalable infrastructure” as Absolute has grown. This has allowed Absolute to “be very efficient in scaling out their business” from a Vancouver base on a global level.

Absolute has also built an extensive global network of partnerships with resellers, distributors and in-country partners such as CDW, PCM, Insight and InTechnology.

Aligning with other technology companies, Absolute has worked closely with leading operating system providers and chipset manufacturers and has collaborated with recognized security companies to create complementary technologies and services.

Since 2007, Absolute has maintained its Gold Certified Partner Status in the Microsoft Partner Program. Through this partnership, Absolute incorporated security reporting functionality for Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) into Absolute DDS, a feature that became available in mid-2015.

In August 2015, Absolute joined the RSA Ready Technology Partnership program, run by the Security Division of EMC, creating interoperability between Absolute DDS and RSA Security Analytics, an advanced threat detection and forensics platform.

Other alliance partnerships include Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Qualcomm, Verizon, and Follett.