Intel vPro Highlights
- Add significant features for business use
- Reduce costs through more efficient management and power usage
- Address laptop data security issues through Anti-Theft Technology ‘poison pill’ approach
- Will lead to a greater Intel content in PCs, including chips, chipsets, and integrated graphics
- Will need software companies to address the new features
- Intel and Microsoft will survive if there’s a massive shift to virtual PCs in business, the PC ecosystem – including the PC brands – will not
In the rush to virtualise PCs, there’s an important question to ask – Is it possible to emulate a fully functional machine by providing users with a remote experience? When talking to the virtualisation experts such as Citrix, VMWare, Cisco, Red Hat and Microsoft there’s a common story – they claim to be able to emulate all important functions to minimise the difference. However the ‘tiering’ of users for virtualised workplaces and the continued use of fat clients and workstations (for road warriors, CAD/CAM experts and the like) underlines the fact that there are still many cases in which ‘physical is best’ from a client type point of view.
There are many other reasons why organisations will continue with physical desktops. For instance:
- The pricing mechanisms and procurement process are well understood
- For materialists – like me – there is a strong feeling that a physical PC are more interesting and better to use than thin clients
- You can’t escape hardware spending in the move to virtualisation; you’ll just be buying different, hopefully less-expensive, hardware
I went to visit Intel in Swindon a few of weeks ago to see how the physical world of PCs was developing and – guess what – I discovered that the evolution of the PC hasn’t finished yet; there’s a moving target for the virtualisers and new features which will keep fat clients ahead for specific functions – not just for the most advanced users. Especially in its development of vPro, Intel has added management and security features that give advantages to large companies thinking about refreshing their client devices after the long period of life cycle stretching forced on them by the recession. I thought it was a good time to have a look at what new PCs (with either Intel’s i5 or i7 processors will do).
vPro Needs The Latest i5 and i7 Chips And Often Other Intel Components
Intel has added a large number of innate hardware features to its chips, which can be unlocked to provide better security, power consumption and manageability for corporate users. In particular:
- KVM Remote Control allows IT staff to take control of a remote machine through and make changes, even if the operating system fails; the technique uses a virtual keyboard which has advantages when working between AZERTY, QWERT and QWERTZ as well as making key-logging impossible; its use can also help reduce the time to deploy Windows 7 and other operating systems, as you can now emulate local installation processes
- Turbo Boost Technology allows i5 and i7 processor based machines to run up to 20% faster on demanding tasks; if you always turn your machine off when done, Intel argues a more-highly specified PC will actually use less electricity; Intel showed me a timed demo to illustrate how they’ve designed ‘Hurry Up to Get Idle’ into the new chips
- Although not unique to vPro, Anti-Theft Technology allows a laptop to be disabled when stolen, although it has to be enabled first of course; if used with hard disk encryption I believe that proper use will prevent many potentially front page news data losses
- Active Management Technology provides the ‘out of band’ communications channel, which uses 256-bit encryption; Intel claim this is significantly more secure than traditional ‘wake up on LAN’ techniques
Adding these features will help Intel to improve the use of its PCs in all kinds of business. Multi-threaded applications will be its friend in maintaining the performance gap over virtual PCs and it is keen to point out that Microsoft Office 2000 is multi-threaded. It also claims that HD quality video-conferencing will require all the power of a quad core desktop.
To take advantage of vPro features you will need to make sure your machine has specific Intel components. KVM Remote management needs integrated Intel graphics, while Hyper-threading Technology requires Intel processor and chip set for instance.
vPro Needs Intel’s OEMs And Software Partners To Unlock Most Of The New Features
You will also need to make sure the software you use is built to accommodate Intel’s hardware features. The use of AES-NI encryption, available on the most highly specified i5 and i7 processors is supported Windows 7 but not earlier operating systems and KVM Remote Management works with Altiris LAN Desk but not other systems management suites, for instance.
As always Intel is dependent on software companies to unlock its hardware features, which means that users looking for advanced functions may be disappointed if their chosen software supplier fails to address Intel’s new features.
Virtualisation Will Change The Intel PC Ecosystem
It would most certainly be wrong to say that Intel is against virtualisation. It has embraced the use of hypervisors on servers and desktops and, in any case, a virtual PC has to have a physical computer somewhere to run it on, even if it’s in a big rack in a Cloud Computing data centre. However it is also clear to me that a rush to virtualise desktop and laptop workspaces would inevitably shift the balance of power away from Intel OEMs, not least if large users are successful in ‘spending to save’ with virtualisation in general and VDI in particular. The PC brand companies currently provide Intel with the majority of its $38 Billion annual revenues of course. It will get less if the server vendors run the show, while Telecoms companies will get a lot more (as in all centralising phases of the ITC industry).
I believe the importance of specific operating systems will subside for users of virtualised PCs. We will end up caring as little about which version of Windows the server is giving us as we do the specific operating system running on our smart phone or iPod. As in these newer worlds applications will become even more important as a result of client virtualisation.
But will the same be true of our PC hardware? At the moment the mass of PC features and functions confuse most users – one reason why AMD is trying to shift emphasis away from traditional speeds and feeds and onto areas of customer preference in its Fusion marketing. Gaming consoles and smart phones are designed on a massive one-to-many basis, with hundreds of million sales, enhancement avoidance and long life expectations – for instance between 2000 and 2006 Sony only made one major adjustment to the Playstation II (adding an Ethernet port with the Slimline version).
Intel’s success is partially driven by the general-purpose nature and upgradeability of the PC as a product, just like Microsoft’s. Adding vPro features enable its OEMs to build specific machines for higher security, remote management and other functions, which are needed by all business users. Clearly however laptops will always be less secure than processes which involve only accessing data remotely. A number of companies (including ThinSpace) are producing mobile thin clients – devices that look like laptops but have no local processing.
Some Conclusions – Physical Refreshment Has Many Advantages
Virtual PCs will never emulate the full functionality of physical ones. But then again physical machines will never allow the depth of control and security achievable with a good virtual approach. I believe that Intel’s vPro features – if unlocked through software company implementation – improve the security, manageability and cost of managing the most expensive item on the IT budget.
A rising tide lifts all boats. In the same way the current recovery – despite the uncertainty of exchange rate crises, Icelandic volcanoes and the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico – will drive all kinds of corporate PC refreshment. Very few of the virtualisers can yet demonstrate strong ‘spend to save’ advantages of shifting from traditional PC usage and the strong demand for PCs since Q4 2009 isn’t coming just from consumers. Therefore I expect that Intel will continue for now to be successful as the leading player in creating the general purpose, aggregated, upgradeable beast that is the PC. When and if the wind changes and everything goes virtual Intel will continue to succeed by supplying data centre server – rather than PC – chips, but the ecosystem will be destroyed. I advise all suppliers with significant revenues from PCs to consider the consequences.
Do you agree? Let me know by commenting on this article.