Industry Voice: Why Intel vPro® Is More than Manageability

clock • 4 min read

Performance, stability and security are at the core of Intel's comprehensive platform built for business

The job of an IT manager has never been more complex than it is now. The digital era has seen a number of changes that present major challenges for IT management, including the increased mobility of the workforce. More remote workers means more remote devices to manage, many of which will be outside of the organisation's own network. The challenge for IT managers is to enable worker productivity while also ensuring security.

The Intel vPro® platform offers a solid foundation for business computing and offers various free tools designed to make IT managers' lives easier. In particular, Intel's 'Modern Manageability' approach addresses the challenges of the changing business world, with remote management being a key feature of Intel vPro®.

One of the many elements that make up the Intel vPro® platform, Intel® Advanced Management Technology (Intel® AMT) can lower operation costs in a variety of ways. The tool allows IT managers to remotely power on PCs outside of business hours to deliver updates and patches, while timers can be set to ensure that devices are only powered on when needed. AMT also gives the IT department KVM (Keyboard-Video-Mouse) abilities for full visibility and control of remote devices.

A new tool in the Intel vPro® portfolio, Intel® Endpoint Management Assistant (Intel® EMA), enables the IT department to manage devices outside of its organisation's IT network in the same way, using the cloud. Not only can this be useful for managing the computers used by remote workers, it can also be used for other devices, such as digital signage or devices located in another company's premises, such as a factory.

Remote management helps businesses to get the best out of their hardware, but manageability is just one of the four central pillars that underpin Intel vPro® — the others being performance, stability and security.

Modern businesses require responsive systems that increase productivity for all workers, especially those working on more complex tasks. Performance is actually essential when it comes to IT infrastructure. The Intel vPro® platform enables a premium computing experience with optimised performance and battery life, enabling workers to be as productive as possible.

In order to get the best out of evergreen IT and modern OSs like Windows 10*, having modern hardware in place is absolutely essential. The performance offered by the Intel vPro® platform is designed to unlock the full potential of Windows 10* and all of the features that it offers.

Stability is also essential, not just for single PCs, but for the entire IT estate of each organisation. Improved stability can help to simplify PC lifecycle complexity. Less stable systems mean more maintenance work, which pushes IT costs up, but having the right hardware in place means that the risks associated with any changes are minimised. The Intel® Stable Image Platform Program (Intel® SIPP) stabilises key components and drivers for 15 months or until the next platform release, helping businesses to avoid compatibility problems when deploying less stable computing infrastructure.

Intel® Hardware Shield is the cornerstone of a more secure PC fleet, delivering protections against firmware attacks for increased platform protection. As part of the Intel vPro® platform, Intel® Hardware Shield helps ensure that the operating system runs on legitimate hardware. It also provides hardware-to-software security visibility, so the operating system can enforce a more complete security policy—all with no additional IT infrastructure required.

Running Intel vPro® alongside Windows 10* Professional can dramatically improve employee efficiency. In fact, an estimated 28,160 hours of employees time can be saved through better device security and management, adding up to nearly $1.3 million over three years, according to a recent report from Forrester Consulting.

"Intel vPro® brings performance, stability and security to businesses, and Modern Manageability helps businesses to get the best out of the platform," said Stuart Dommett, Enterprise Client Solutions Specialist at Intel. "Taking advantage of the free tools that Intel vPro® offers can help IT managers deal with the challenges of an increasingly mobile workforce, while maintaining productivity and security."

*Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others

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