Intel vPro and System Center

In typical desktop management, using any standard management product like System Center Configuration Manager, we would typically depend on the Operating System to be healthy and regularly doing its gym workouts. So what happens when an Operating System fails? No more desktop management. Thats kind of ironic isn’t it?

So.. i was going through the Intel vPro chipset and its remote management capabilities lately and found some pretty interesting facts.

So vPro is essentially the ‘Business chipset’ by Intel that contains capabilities to do magic stuff while your machine is offline. There’s a catch to this though... the main plug still has to be switched on.. AHA!! Glitch in the matrix!!!.. come on... we’re in the electronic age.. we still need power.

I wanted to just quickly talk about what integration capabilities that Intel vPro can provide for Microsoft System Center. Lets take the 3 products...

1. System Center Configuration Manager 2007
2. System Center Operations Manager 2007
3. Softgrid Application Virtualization

System Center Configuration Manager 2007

With ConfigMgr, once provisioned, it allows for :

· remote asset inventory without needed the operating system to be on.

· Serial over LAN to perform CMOS configuration changes remotely

· IDE redirection – such that if an operating system were to crash, you could boot onto a remote ISO image sitting on a a server somewhere

· Wake-On-Lan

· Remote software updating

At present moment however, there is no support for Hardware based filtering which i was told will come in the next patch or version

System Center Operations Manager 2007

With OpsMgr, you have the Intel AMT Management Pack which provides for all that u see under the ConfigMgr features PLUS System Defense. System Defense allows for Hardware based filtering such as applying policies to filter traffic via the network interface

Softgrid Application Virtualization

If you already know what Softgrid can do, i also wrote about how ConfigMgr 2007 R2 will offer an integration to deploy Virtual Apps ( ) With the Intel vPro chipset, you could possible perform Wake-On-Lan on to a machine and push the Virtual Application package so that when the user gets in the morning.. Poof! App is on the desktop. Prepare for sudden gasp of awe from the user.

To know more details on it, i recommend u to check out the Intel vPro expert center http://communities.intel.com/community/vproexpert

I will be configuring all the above in the next couple of weeks when i return from Houston and will be posting all the findings.

Keep this channel on.