IronKey Workspace W700 Secure Flash Drive Review

REPORT ANALYSIS AND FINAL THOUGHTS

Workspace Windows To Go flash drives can definitely increase productivity by speeding up older systems, as well as saving companies thousands of dollars on IT resources. The use of bring your own device (BYOD) programs and common contractor and new employee acquisitions create opportunities for companies to use these devices to get them up and running quick. Companies can quickly hand out these secure Windows To Go USBs to mobile workers rather than expensive laptops and keep them secure on a fully managed environment.

In terms of cost for Windows To Go, companies running Windows 8 under a software assurance agreement automatically get the rights for Windows To Go. So all costs are based on the USB drives. This can result in a savings of up to 90% on hardware in the end.

In the marketplace today, the only players in the Windows To Go space are Kingston, Super Talent, Western Digital, SPYRUS, and IronKey by Imation. WD’s Windows To Go drive is a HDD, thus a much slower option. The Kingston and Super Talent solutions are similar to Ironkey’s W300 solution in that they only offer bit-locker encryption. If someone really wanted to, they could spend a few thousand dollars to get past this. Hardware encryption options offered by SPYRUS and IronKey by Imation are much more secure. However, IronKey does offer certified FIPS level 3 security and faster speeds over the SPYRUS devices with their W700.

During benchmark testing I noticed the drive was hot to the touch. I took a temperature monitor and was able to measure it at 112F, which is well within the rated operation range. And as you can see from the image above the IronKey Workspace W700 is fairly compact when plugged into a host system. Its performance, while the best we have seen from a Windows To Go drive, was slightly less than rated specs, however, this is mainly due to our inability to benchmark the device outside the secure Windows To Go environment it provides. It did provide sequential speeds and access times much faster than that of HDDs, thus making a perfect solution to bring some fresh life into older systems. This is a key benefit for a companies’ mobile workforce as they can get up in running in a matter of seconds rather than minutes and have a responsive computing experience to boot.

If your company deals with sensitive data such as health care industry, financial institutions, or government bodies, nothing should be stopping you from purchasing these drives for your mobile workforce. The fast and rugged IronKey Workspace W700 offers end users a responsive and military grade secure work environment on almost any PC.  And with that, the IronKey Workspace W700 takes home our Editor’s Choice award!

Check out the IronKey Workspace W700 on Amazon Today!