This is the second of a few articles to discuss enterprise integration of the Intel® vPro™ processor technology and Intel® Centrino® Pro platforms in an Altiris environment. The first article is available here. Subsequent articles will have a similar introduction to identify their respective contents and portions.

The first article focused on the overview of the approach, difference of SMB and Enterprise modes, an overview of the main focus points enterprise integration, and separation of testing and production environments.

This -- the second article -- focuses on the Future State along with Client Platform Readiness.

Current and Future State

The Intel® vPro™ processor technology or Intel® Centrino® Pro implementation -- similar to other technological introductions which address both business and technical requirements -- provides the opportunity for a well planned project. In general, many projects start with good intentions and promises to what the future might hold. Well planned projects often complete with a measurable improvement based on a goal, roadmap with milestones, and productive collaboration among teams.

A common starting point is the documentation of current state and what the future state should be. This is how the Intel® vPro™ and Centrino® Pro platform technologies came into existence -- through the collection of requirements, industry recommendations, interviews, identifying short comings in current or previous solutions, and so forth. In understanding the current state of the environment with associated targets or hot points -- a related discussion is how such items might be addressed by emerging technologies, approaches, and so forth. For a summary of what Intel® vPro™ and Centrino® Pro are capable of -- http://www.intel.com/business/vpro

With targets defined, and possibly metrics of desired improvement or change, a common next step is to communicate with groups and organizations that will be affected. The plan may originate with the client platform support team yet will need the involvement and awareness of the enterprise infrastructure, network infrastructure, security infrastructure, and other teams that are responsible for the components discussed in a future article (Part 3 of Enterprise Integration).

If resistance to change occurs, an executive or managerial champion may be required to navigate unforeseen boundaries and obstacles. The navigation around these obstacles is assisted by the desired business case which likely includes statements from the pre- and post-analysis.

Here is a quick snapshot of real-world customer intents to deploy, integrate, and utilize the Intel® vPro™ and Centrino® Pro platforms. The list provides 3 examples how desk-side visits can be reduced.

• University environment covering several acres at the main campus, yet also including remote facilities. Winter temperatures of -20 degrees Fahrenheit are undesirable for outside commute (whether by foot, cart, etc) between buildings to locate, inventory, patch, or perform other services on client systems. With Intel® vPro™ processor technology integrated, travel time saved ranges from a few minutes to hours. Customer satisfaction is improved, response times are shortened, and other associated benefits obtained.
• Healthcare provider with multiple clinics, offices, and locations. Support technicians unable to enter physician area during appointments due to patient privacy, thus they may arrive a few minutes after the start of a visit and must wait until completion of the patient visit before servicing the computer. With Intel® vPro™ technician saves time in travel (even if short walk the upstairs), waiting for patient visit to complete, and so forth. Inventory can be done remotely, appropriate replacement hardware located for repair, options to perform redirection from console, etc.
• Technology manufacturing company looking to upgrade client systems to Microsoft Vista. Inventory report determines which clients are hardware compliant and have sufficient resources for the upgrade. Current inventories range from 60-70% accuracy. With Intel® vPro™ integrated, company expects to raise accuracy to 90% or higher.

The methodologies used to determine the before and after states will differ, thus this section is only a summary. However, a few final thoughts and questions to consider in planning for deployment, integration, and usage of the Intel® vPro™ or Intel® Centrino® Pro platforms.

• How many clients are refreshed per year?
• What groups are priority for refresh?
• Which groups or divisions are good to validate and replicate upgrade and integration processes?
• What metrics will be used and monitored during the process?

More ideas and motivation may be assisted via the online ROI tool (Link at the bottom of the page - http://www.intel.com/business/business-pc/manageability.htm?iid=ibe_vpro+body_manageability

Client Platform Readiness

All major vendors currently provide branded Intel® vPro™ solutions. Intel® Centrino® Pro systems will be announced starting early May 2007. The easiest way to check whether a client platform has the manageability and security features is to check for the Intel® vPro™ or Intel® Centrino® Pro label on the unit.

Within a certified client platform is the Intel® Active Management Technology (AMT), which is supported by firmware, and OS level drivers. The security and manageability of Intel® AMT requires a supporting network adapter (wired or wireless), Intel® Core™2 Duo processor, and compliant chipset. The processor also supports Intel® Virtualization Technology (VT) which will a support a future innovation for service partition separate from the host partition. Also referred to as a virtual appliance -- a future article will address this as Symantec and Altiris release supporting environments.

The client platform will support Microsoft Vista for both 32-bit and 64-bit computing. For customers looking to deploy such a platform -- client application testing and validation, client imaging, and other preparatory steps may be needed in addition to enabling Intel® AMT for the Intel® vPro™ or Intel® Centrino® Pro platforms. The Altiris Client Management Suite provides some create tools to prepare, deploy, migrate, and patch the client environment.

As mentioned earlier, there are a few Intel® AMT firmware and drivers for the client platform. As often recommended, the latest versions are preferred and can be obtained from the respective OEM driver and download support pages. The drivers and firmware are digitally signed by Intel, one of many security features for the platform. The operating system level drivers could easily be integrated into the client image -- or better yet -- distributed, installed, and updated via the Altiris console. Drivers are compatible with Microsoft Windows versions including 2000, XP, and Vista. In a recent search of the web, Linux based drivers are being worked on (see posting at softwareblogs.intel.com/2007/04/16/open-source-lin...).

If you are starting to wonder why there are operating system drivers for a hardware based solution, below are short descriptions of the drivers and firmware.

• AMT Firmware -- The management engine is a separate computing device with associated firmware. All major client vendors include updates on their respective websites. A tech tip will be posted describing the different Intel® AMT versions.
• Intel® Management Engine Interface (MEI) driver -- Driver providing a secure local communications interface between the host operating system the management engine bios extensions (MEBx) via the Host Embedded Controller Interface (HECI). For those that are highly security conscious -- a future article will provide more detail.
• Serial-over-LAN (SoL) driver -- The acronym could be misinterpreted, yet the essence of this driver is to enable a COM port for VT100 or ANSI remote sessions before graphic interface when the operating system loads. (Yes, this is correct -- you can view and send commands to a remote client prior to the operating system loading, including entering into the BIOS, viewing POST, etc. Hence the need to understand and adjust IT governance, support processes, access control, and so forth.)
• Local Management Service (LMS) driver -- Provides an abstraction layer into the MEI (mentioned above). When first loaded, the driver will cause a pop-up to occur to confirm that Intel® AMT is running. The pop-up can be disabled. As the Intel® AMT firmware is updated, this driver is most likely to require a coordinated update as new features are enabled. The driver also checks for consistency of the Intel® AMT hostname and the operating system host name.

The Altiris client agent is recommended although not required to be installed.

One last item on client platform readiness -- when provisioning or re-provisioning Intel® AMT within the corporate network, it is recommended that the host operating system be loaded and the host be part of the domain. There are a few reasons for this which will be saved for a future article focused on provisioning, re-provisioning, and un-provisioning -- which applies to how Intel® AMT is configured.