BIOS: Technology Means Business

The way the world views and uses business PCs is apparently about to change with the introduction of Intel’s new Intel vPro technology, a shift in desktop PC security and manageability along with energy-saving computing performance.

Businesses today are plagued by increasing economic and security threats such as malicious viruses, spyware and identity theft, while IT managers are driven to improve processes and customer service models. Intel vPro technology will offer businesses and IT a competitive edge with breakthrough innovations and technologies to help get the most out of resources and shrinking IT budgets.

The company has outlined how Intel vPro technology will deliver these benefits later this year through broad collaborations with industry-leading software leaders and IT service companies, and support from PC system manufacturers around the world. Intel vPro brand is the newest addition to Intel’s brand portfolio, and its first targeting businesses and IT customers.

‘Like Intel Centrino mobile technology and Intel Viiv technology, Intel vPro technology will bring together world-class innovations throughout the processor, chipsets, networking and software,’ said William A. Swope, Intel vice president and director of Digital Enterprise Brand Management. ‘This technology significantly advances desktop PCs and will quite simply offer businesses security and manageability like never before - all on one of the most powerful and energy-efficient PCs in the market.’

At the heart of the first Intel vPro-based PCs will be an Intel Core microarchitecture dual-core processor. This next-generation, 64-bit microarchitecture bestows significant gains in performance and reductions in power-consumption improving responsiveness and productivity.

Intel vPro technology also includes the second-generation of Intel Active Management Technology (Intel AMT) and Intel Virtualization Technology (Intel VT). Intel VT will be integrated into the dual-core processor while the next-generation Intel AMT will be integrated into the new platform chipset. These hardware innovations, when combined with industry-enabled software solutions, represent the superior manageability and strengthened security behind the Intel vPro brand.

Offering businesses avenues to reduce PC support costs, Intel AMT helps manage, inventory, diagnose and repair PCs even when systems are turned off or have crashed operating systems or hard disk drives. The second generation of Intel AMT offers the ability to isolate infected PCs before they impact the network and alert IT when threats are removed.

Further strengthening PC security, Intel VT allows for separate independent hardware-based environments inside a single PC so IT managers can create a dedicated, tamper-resistant service environment - or partition - where particular tasks or activities can run independently, invisible to and isolated from PC users.

Demonstrating the industry support for Intel vPro technology, Symantec has announced plans to work with Intel to build security solutions creating an isolated environment outside of the main PC operating system for the purpose of managing security threats. This tamper-resistant virtualised environment will deliver stronger control and protection in the data infrastructure.

Support for Intel vPro technology is also evident from new applications and solutions that will be available over the next year from global software vendors, including Adobe, Altiris, Avocent, Check Point, Cisco, Computer Associates, Hitachi JP1, HP OpenView, Kaspersky Lab, LANDesk, Lenovo, Lockdown Networks, Microsoft, Novell, Panorama SW, SAP, Skype, StarSoftComm, SyAM Software, Symantec and Zenith.

Intel vPro-based PCs will also include Intel’s latest integrated graphics providing performance for mainstream business applications and being capable of delivering the full array of graphics interface features in Microsoft’s upcoming Windows Vista operating system.

Intel vPro technology will be part of the Intel Stable Image Platform program, which offers predictable transitions and promises that the Intel software stack and drivers will be available and unchanged for five quarters from the time of the product launch. In its fourth year, this program allows businesses to qualify a system once, instead of being forced to requalify the system due to software or hardware changes.

Intel vPro technology will usher in this new era for business computing starting in the second half of the year and will be identified by a new logo on PCs from major system manufacturers and channel resellers worldwide.

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