Found this snippet of interest:
"So will software-based FDE products go the way of the dodo? Not likely--organizations with global software FDE deployments aren't about to rip them out. It also will take time for companies to swap in laptops with Opal-compatible drives. Software FDE vendors certainly don't project a sense of urgency, either. McAfee and Check Point say they see the need for managing hardware- and software-based FDE. But neither has announced timelines for Opal support".
Especially this:
"In contrast, on the manufacturing side, vendor support for hardware-based FDEs is good. In the last six months, Fujitsu, Hitachi, and Samsung have debuted Opal-compliant drives, and system vendors Dell and Lenovo are shipping laptops with Opal-based drives. In fact, the hardware-based approach is going to come faster than some FDE vendors are envisioning. The technology will find a warm reception among organizations struggling with their FDE strategies, because the advantages are too compelling to ignore."
Greg Shipley is CTO of Neohapsis, an information security