Dell's recent recall of 4.1 million notebook batteries which the firm admits could pose a serious fire risk should act as a wake up call to all companies, even those without Dell kit, Gartner noted today.

All firms should gather asset information to assess the magnitude of the problem within their own laptops, and ensure that a process is in place to implement the replacements.

They should also prepare plans in the event that they may face problems of a similar magnitude.

Gartner warned that companies that do not have Dell laptops should not rest on their laurels.

"If you use other manufacturers' notebooks, employ this event as a fire drill that will enable you to understand how effectively your processes might handle such a recall," Gartner advised.

"The scale of this recall reinforces the importance of maintaining detailed and up-to-date asset-tracking information. While the probability of encountering a problematic battery is close to one in a million, the risk cannot be ignored.

"Since Dell has stated that users will not initially receive replacement batteries for two to four weeks, Gartner advises companies immediately to work at resolving this problem."

Dell announced on 14 August that it has recalled 4.1 million batteries used in Inspiron, Latitude, Precision and XPS notebooks shipped between 1 April 2004 and 8 July 2006.

Due to a manufacturing problem, under very rare conditions the Sony-built battery packs can fail catastrophically, resulting in fire.