PowerNotebooks.com - Laptop & Notebook News & Articles
Links:Articles Home
Laptops - General Category Index
Intel vPro Technology - Changing the Face of Business Computing
28 October, 2008 in Laptops - General
Intel vPro has arrived, and it is an exciting leap forward for Business IT.
Intel vPro is a desktop and laptop platform that presents some eye-opening new possibilities for small, medium and enterprise level businesses, especially for businesses that have multiple offices and those that prefer to use Managed Service Providers (MSPs). Intel vPro allows businesses to effectively use Managed Service Providers (MSPs), who can remotely handle all their security, network management, admin, and offsite storage needs for a fraction of the cost of maintaining a dedicated in-house IT staff, and critical updates and maintenance can be performed during off hours so as not to interrupt employee productivity.
Or, if your business has a dedicated in-house IT staff, they can be centralized to one location, with only one or two technicians, or possibly a local repair company, needed in each physical office location (for physical setup or hardware replacement/repair), allowing for a significant budget reduction without a reduction in service quality.
Intel vPro also makes telecommuting a much easier and more realistic option, as the vPro platform ensures only trusted access to the corporate network. With Intel vPro, even sensitive information can be handled offsite with confidence.
Intel vPro includes a rather hefty list of hardware features, including:
-Intel Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad, or Centrino processors
-Intel Active Management Technology (Intel AMT) with certificate-based security for remote configuration
-Wired and wireless network connections
-Intel Trusted Execution Technology (Intel TXT)
-Support for IEEE 802.1x, Cisco Self Defending Network (SDN), and Microsoft Network Access Protection (NAP), technologies that allow vPro to authenticate a computer before the OS loads AND before it can access the network.
-Intel Virtualization Tecnology (Intel VT)
-Support for Execute Disable Bit (XD-Bit)
-Full support for Vista, including BitLocker, Trusted Platform Module, and Intel Graphics capable of running Vista's AERO Graphical User Interface (GUI)
Having a whole new list of abbreviations to throw around is enough to make any technophile's mouth water, but what benefits do these features actually bring to the table?
Intel Active Management Tecnology (AMT) is the most visible and exciting new feature of the Intel vPro platform. Intel AMT is a hardware-based feature that allows remote access to a PC for management and security tasks, even when the OS is down or the PC's power is off. This allows businesses a slew of benefits, with the primary benefit being a lowered IT cost. AMT allows system administrators, either internal or MSPs, to monitor, maintain, secure, and service PCs remotely. Using an encrypted certificate (established when the system is initially configured), authorized users have full access to the system's BIOS settings, its power state, its boot sequence, and event logs.
Using Intel AMT, system updates can be performed office-wide (or even nation or world-wide) during existing downtimes, such as nights or weekends, minimizing work lost to interruptions for upgrades and allowing an IT team to work far more efficiently.
Intel AMT works in conjunction with both wireless and wired connections to allow authorized system administrators encrypted access to any computer, even if it is being used at a satellite office with no direct access to the corporate server. This requires a business to use network switches and firewalls that support vPro access, however, so these remote features are not necessarily available as soon as a vPro system is set up.
Intel Trusted Execution Technology (TXT) is used to literally make the vPro PC a trusted environment. As the system boots, Intel TXT verifies that the launch environment is "trustworthy," which is especially useful on computers that will be accessing or editing sensitive information, and Intel does market its TXT as a means of defending against software-based attacks designed to steal sensitive information.
Intel TXT works with a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) to enable secure key generation and storage on secure servers, enabling a "layer of trust" to access data encrypted by this key. Intel TXT also works with a TPM to prevent security being compromised by keyloggers or screenshot-capturing software within the context of applications that support TPM security.
Intel Virtualization Technology (VT) has been around for a while now. At its base, Intel VT simply allows for running multiple Operating Systems on the same PC, while granting all "virtual machines" full access to the memory, CPU, and hardware. This is a useful enough feature in its own right, but Intel VT also allows for running a specialized or critical application in its own "virtual PC" to secure that application or the privacy of sensitive information handled by that application. Intel VT can even be used to run a secure VoIP server without the cost of building and maintaining a dedicated machine.
Execute Disable Bit (XD-Bit) is a feature that, if enabled, allows a processor to distinguish between bits of code that should be executed and bits that should not be executed because they pose a threat to the system. When malicious software (such as a worm) attempts to enter the system buffer, the processor simply disables the code execution, which prevents damage and keeps the software from spreading. The best news for system administrators is, of course, that XD-Bit can localize virus infections and keep them from spreading all over their carefully maintained corporate network, and the best news for users is that XD-Bit can actually prevent their own computer from being damaged by malicious code, so even if a system is infected, it is protected, and much easier to "clean."
Intel vPro is a fantastic development for the business world, and well worth investigating for your next round of upgrades.