Blancco Ltd. is an international data security company that specializes in data erasure and computer reuse management solutions for corporations, governments and computer remarketing companies worldwide.[1] Founded and headquartered in Joensuu, Finland, the company now operates worldwide with offices across the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia.
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Janne Tervo and Kim Väisänen launched Blancco Ltd. in 1997 as Carelian Innovation Ltd. Carelian’s major focus was security, particularly with regard to keeping personal data safe from theft and hacking. Two key product lines emerged: Protekto, an antitheft device for personal computers; and Blancco, a product for the secure wiping of hard disk drives.
In September 1997, a central hospital in Finland sold computers containing the medical records of over 3,000 patients. It was one of the largest data security incidents in Finland’s history and reinvigorated development of Carelian’s first data erasure tool, Blancco Data Cleaner. The first version of the product was launched in July 1999. This product's success prompted Carelian to sell other product lines and change its name to Blancco to focus solely on data erasure tools. W
After a July 2000 investment by venture capital firm Helment Business Mentors, Blancco was able expand its operations globally – and its product line to include solutions for computer lifecycle management. Blancco LAN Server was launched in November 2001 and expanded the company’s clientele to include recycling and refurbishing centers, auction houses, leasing companies and large-scale corporations.
By August 2005, the company's global user base exceeded 3 million. The company expanded its product line in 2008 with the introduction of the Blancco 4.5 client series for added server support, and the Data Center Edition, which enables safe reuse of the hard drives in mass storage environments for clients such as Sun, HP and EMC that need deep data expunging.[2] Today, the company continues to focus on data security and reaches a wide range of industries, including banking, finance, government and defense. Over 250 refurbishment centers worldwide have standardized on Blancco’s technology platform.[3]
Blancco’s data wipe products scale from a single, reusable PC erasure tool to software for erasure requirements in mass storage environments and data centers. The various versions support erasure of different hardware configurations.
| PC Edition | Server Edition | Data Center Edition | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of hard drives supported | 4 | 16 | 200+ |
| Overwrite IDE, SATA, SCSI | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Overwrite SAS hard disks | Yes | Yes | |
| Overwrite Fibre Channel hard disks | Yes | Yes | |
| Overwrite USB hard disks | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Erase several disks simultaneously | Yes | Yes | |
| Overwrite RAID logical volumes | Yes | Yes | |
| Overwrite RAID physical volumes | SCSI | SAS | |
| Overwrite HPA and DCO areas | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Overwrite IDE, SAS and SCSI remapped sectors | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Blancco’s products exceed international security standards and adhere to international certification processes. As early as 2003,[4] Blancco’s Data Cleaner was the only data erasure utility to have passed confidential and top secret standards and be accredited as an HMG InfoSec-approved product by the Communications Electronics Security Group – the United Kingdom’s government information technology security regulators. Blancco’s security certificates and approvals include:
The following international standards are supported by Blancco software:
Magnetic erasure standards:
Flash based erasure standards:
Data erasure tools from Blancco have garnered awards and accolades that include:
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