The United Nations’ Global E-waste Monitor estimates that the world generates over 60 million tonnes of e-waste annually. Furthermore, this number is rising five times as fast as e-waste recycling. Much of this waste comes from prematurely discarded electronic devices.
Many enterprises follow a standard three-year replacement cycle, assuming older computers are inefficient. However, many of these devices are still functional and could perform well with minor upgrades or maintenance. The issue is, no one knows what the weak points are for a particular machine, or what the needed maintenance is, and the diagnostics would be too costly and time-consuming. It’s easier to just buy brand new laptops.
When buying a used car, dealerships and individual buyers can access each car’s particular CarFax report, detailing the vehicle’s usage and maintenance history. Armed with this information, dealerships can perform the necessary fixes or upgrades before reselling the car. And individuals can decide whether to trust that vehicle’s performance. We at HP realized that, to prevent unnecessary e-waste, we need to collect and make available usage and maintenance data for each laptop, like a CarFax for used PCs.
There is a particular challenge to collecting usage data for a PC, however. We need to make sure to protect the user’s privacy and security. So, we set out to design a data-collection protocol for PCs that manages to remain secure.
The firmware-level data collector
Luckily, the sensors that can collect the necessary data are already installed in each PC. There are thermal sensors that monitor CPU temperature, power-consumption monitors that track energy efficiency, storage health indicators that assess solid state drive (SSD) wear levels, performance counters that measure system utilization, fan-rotation-speed sensors that detect cooling efficiency, and more. The key is to collect and store all that data in a secure yet useful way.
We decided that the best way to do this is to integrate the life-cycle records into the firmware layer. By embedding telemetry capabilities directly within the firmware, we ensure that device health and usage data is captured the moment it is collected. This data is stored securely on HP SSD drives, leveraging hardware-based security measures to protect against unauthorized access or manipulation.
The secure telemetry protocol we’ve developed at HP works as follows. We gather the critical hardware and sensor data and store it in a designated area of the SSD. This area is write-locked, meaning only authorized firmware components can write to it, preventing accidental modification or tampering. That authorized firmware component we use is the Endpoint Security Controller, a dedicated piece of hardware embedded in business-class HP PCs. It plays a critical role in strengthening platform-level security and works independently from the main CPU to provide foundational protection.
The secure telemetry protocol collects data from sensors into a piece of hardware known as an endpoint security controller, with built-in security protections. The endpoint security controller then writes the data to a dedicated read-only portion of the solid state drive, where authorized operating system applications can access the data.Mark Montgomery
The endpoint security controller establishes a secure session by retaining the secret key within the controller itself. This mechanism enables read data protection on the SSD—where telemetry and sensitive data are stored—by preventing unauthorized access, even if the operating system is reinstalled or the system environment is otherwise altered.
Then, the collected data is recorded in a time-stamped file, stored within a dedicated telemetry log on the SSD. Storing these records on the SSD has the benefit of ensuring the data is persistent even if the operating system is reinstalled or some other drastic change in software environment occurs.
The telemetry log employs a cyclic buffer design, automatically overwriting older entries when the log reaches full capacity. Then, the telemetry log can be accessed by authorized applications at the operating system level.
The PCFax
The telemetry log serves as the foundation for a comprehensive device history report. Much like a CarFax report for used cars, this report, which we call PCFax, will provide both current users and potential buyers with crucial information.
The PCFax report aggregates data from multiple sources beyond just the on-device telemetry logs. It combines the secure firmware-level usage data with information from HP’s factory and supply-chain records, digital-services platforms, customer-support service records, diagnostic logs, and more. Additionally, the system can integrate data from external sources including partner sales and service records, refurbishment partner databases, third-party component manufacturers like Intel, and other original equipment manufacturers. This multisource approach creates a complete picture of the device’s entire life cycle, from manufacturing through all subsequent ownership and service events.
For IT teams within organizations, we hope the PCFax will bring simplicity and give opportunities for optimization. Having access to fine-grained usage and health information for each device in their fleet can help IT managers decide which devices are sent to which users, as well as when maintenance is scheduled. This data can also help device managers decide which specific devices to replace rather than issuing new computers automatically, enhancing sustainability. And this can help with security: With real-time monitoring and firmware-level protection, IT teams can mitigate risks and respond swiftly to emerging threats. All of this can facilitate more efficient use of PC resources, cutting down on unnecessary waste.
A PCFax report, much like a CarFax, will detail crucial usage and maintenance information to help inform potential customers. Hewlett Packard
We also hope that, much as the CarFax gives people confidence in buying used cars, the PCFax can encourage resale of used PCs. For enterprises and consumers purchasing second-life PCs, it provides detailed visibility into the complete service and support history of each system, including any repairs, upgrades, or performance issues encountered during its initial deployment. By making this comprehensive device history readily available, PCFax enables more PCs to find productive second lives rather than being prematurely discarded, directly addressing the e-waste challenge while providing economic benefits to both sellers and buyers in the secondary PC market.
While HP’s solutions represent a significant step forward, challenges remain. Standardizing telemetry frameworks across diverse ecosystems is critical for broader adoption. Additionally, educating organizations about the benefits of life-cycle records will be essential to driving uptake.
We are also working on integrating AI into our dashboards. We hope to use AI models to analyze historical telemetry data and predict failures before they happen, such as detecting increasing SSD write cycles to forecast impending failure and alert IT teams for proactive replacement, or predicting battery degradation and automatically generating a service ticket to ensure a replacement battery is ready before failure, minimizing downtime.
We plan to start rolling out these features at the beginning of 2026.
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