Geographic restrictions for information handling systems

An IHS (Information Handling System) comprising:

• a persistent memory, wherein during factory provisioning of the IHS an inventory certificate is uploaded to the persistent memory, wherein the inventory certificate specifies a plurality of allowed geographic locations at which the IHS is operational, and wherein the inventory certificate is a public key identity certificate generated by an embedded controller of the IHS in response to a CSR (Certificate Signing Request) generated by the IHS during the factory provisioning of the IHS;
• the embedded controller;
• one or more processors;
• and
• one or more memory devices coupled to the processors, the memory devices storing computer-readable instructions that, upon execution by the processors, cause the IHS to:
• upon initialization of the IHS, retrieve the inventory certificate stored to the persistent memory during factory provisioning of the IHS;
• halt further initialization of the IHS by the embedded controller until a location of the IHS can be determined and compared to the geographic locations from the inventory certificate;
• determine a location of the IHS;
• when the location of the IHS is not at an allowed geographic location specified in the inventory certificate, render the IHS non-operational by the embedded controller;
• and
• when the location of the IHS is at an allowed geographic location specified in the inventory certificate, enable further initialization of the IHS.

A computer-readable storage device having instructions stored thereon for enforcing geographic restrictions on the operation of an IHS (Information Handling System), wherein execution of the instructions by one or more processors of the IHS causes a validation process of the IHS to:

• upon initialization of the IHS, retrieve an inventory certificate uploaded to the IHS during factory provisioning of the IHS, wherein the inventory certificate specifies a plurality of allowed geographic locations at which the IHS is operational, and wherein the inventory certificate is a public key identity certificate generated by an embedded controller of the IHS in response to a CSR (Certificate Signing Request) generated by the IHS during the factory provisioning of the IHS;
• halt further initialization of the IHS by the embedded controller until a location of the IHS can be determined and compared to the geographic locations from the inventory certificate;
• determine a location of the IHS;
• when the location of the IHS is not at an allowed geographic location specified in the inventory certificate, render the IHS non-operational by the embedded controller;
• and
• when the location of the IHS is at an allowed geographic location specified in the inventory certificate, enable further initialization of the IHS.