We're big fans of remote hardware management and its implications at home, in small businesses, and of course in enterprise environments. Intel recently refreshed its vPro technology, and we have a short preview that precedes our in-depth coverage.
Last year, we took an in-depth look at remote management technology in Intel vPro: Three Generations Of Remote Management. That piece covered everything from the Wolfdale-based Core 2 to the Clarkdale-based Core i5 and Sandy Bridge-based Core i5. In the process, we were able to explore Active Management Technology and the KVM Remote feature.
Not content to leave that feature as an Intel-only look at hardware-based remote management, we also gleaned as much information as possible from AMD on its DASH initiative. Unfortunately, that story fell flat on its face when we discovered there aren't any motherboards with DASH support. Really, your only option for the functionality we discussed is Intel's vPro.
And that takes us to Intel's recent refresh of the platform, coinciding with the introduction of Ivy Bridge-based CPUs and 7-series chipsets. We're currently working on a hands-on evaluation of the updated version of vPro, which includes some interesting security-oriented testing, plus an introduction to a pared-down management suite called Small Business Advantage.
In the meantime, we've put together a video covering some of what vPro and SBA entail, along with details about the hardware involved.
A Real IT would never compromise his client computers , with a backdoor , he prefers doing stuff the hard ,clean,.manual way.
I want the review girl back too... she did an awesome job.
Ever heard of something called "volume control"?
Don't bother, he's a troll.
Some of these "features" are horrific. I read on Wikipedia that in many cases, these CPU and Chipset-based features cannot be disabled :|
True. Although Intel is trying to market a way for small biz to eliminate/minimize on any needed IT; or they see an advertising opportunity to impress an unknowing business owner to paying for this. They have wrapped this up in an attractive package and might sell it somewhere.
Yes, WOL and magic packets with a fork of VNC with encrypted viewing and file transfer easily do this (or just use encrypted VPN).
"Buy Intel vPro. We promise we won't give the NSA / CIA the backdoor to your PC's, unlike the other guys!"
This tech can do great things for IT shops, but If you are going to use out of box remote management tech, make sure you actually use all of its security features or you are only hurting yourself.
If you don't setup strong BIOS passwords and use drive encryption, then this may not be the tech you are looking for.
And magic packet + VNC can be enough for your puny street corner IT shop but you DON'T WANT to manage 5500 terminals (what am i doing now) with it.
Fleet Management is a huge part of IT in the Enterprise, and you can only do it with the proper tools, What's the serial number of that machine? Oh the user said it's stuck at the bios, how do you check what's wrong without physically being there? You need to put the asset tag in the bios or the faggy HP machine won't boot, how do you do it? We want outsource helpdesk people to be able to manage the workstations without access to the main vlan, how do you do it?.
vPro/AMT is a godsend in this regard. And in the enterprise there is no such thing as privacy, our proxy even flags offenders that try to get to dodgy sites.
I'm amazed at the amount of armchair heroes.
-Review Girl