Intel Corporation made an announcement about a new platform that it intends to launch, vPro. Expected sometime in the second or third quarter of this year, Intel hopes it will change the way desktops function and the way they are managed within a distributed business environment.

The vPro platform is powered by Intel's Conroe dual-core processor and backed by a 64-bit micro architecture that has built-in power and energy saving features and includes the second generation of Intel Active Management Technology (Intel AMT) along with Intel's Virtualization Technology (Intel VT). When combining Intel AMT in the chipset and Intel VT in the dual-core processor with industry enabled software solutions, tomorrow's business desktop PC will offer businesses and IT staff superior manageability and improved security.

Intel's chief Paul Otellini has been quoted as saying "It's time to reinvent the desktop". With Intel AMT, businesses gain assistance with inventory and management, and diagnosing and repairing PCs even when the system is turned off or has crashed. With the second generation Intel AMT technology, PCs that become infected can quickly be isolated from the network environment and then notify IT staff when the threat is removed.

Intel VT goes one step further, it helps strengthen PC security by creating a separate independent hardware-based environment inside of the PC allowing IT administrators to create a dedicated and tamper proof service environment or partition, where tasks can run independently and isolated from the main operating system as well as from the end user.

Support for Intel vPro technology will be available over the next year from companies such as Adobe, Altiris, Check Point, Cisco, Computer Associates, LANDesk, Microsoft, and Symantec to name a few.

It might not be long until your business PC sports the new vPro logo!

Posted by David Marshall on April 29, 2006 09:44 AM