If your customers have been waiting for PCs based on the 2010 Intel Core
vPro processor family to release their pent-up demand and upgrade to Microsoft
Windows 7, their wait is over.
Bring on the refresh cycle.
Intel has unveiled the processor family, and PC makers Acer, Asus, Dell, HP,
Lenovo and Toshiba are introducing business PCs based on the new technology.
Plus, managed services platform and other software providers such as Bomgar,
Kaseya, LANDesk, Level Platforms, LogMeIn, Microsoft, RealVNC, Spiceworks,
Symantec and WinZip will be including technologies that exploit the chip
technology in their own software offerings.
“Businesses, particularly those that haven’t purchased PCs for several years,
face a computing environment that no longer handles the applications many
workers and IT are adopting,” said Rick Echevarria, vice president of Intel
Architecture Group and general manager of the Business Client Platform
Division, in a statement “The integration of intelligent performance along with
smart security and cost-saving manageability features in the Intel Core vPro
processor family provide IT and SMBs a no-compromise platform. We also are
excited about how Intel vPro Technology gives IT the flexibility to look at
client virtualization, consumerization and rich cloud applications.”
The new Core i7 and Core i5 processor
chips are based on Intel’s Nehalem architecture at the 32-nanometer process
technology node. They also mark the first time that Intel has incorporated HD
graphics in its processors. Further, Intel says that the technology relies on
its second-generation high-k metal gate transistors to help improve computing
speed and battery life.
Intel’s platform for the processors includes the new Intel Q57 Express chip set,
new Intel 82577LM Gigabit Network Connection for notebooks and Intel 82578DM
Network Connection for desktop PCs.
Intel says that using standard benchmarks, a notebook with the 2010 Intel Core
i5 vPro processor can run business productivity applications up to 80 percent
faster and multiple applications up to twice as fast, and can protect
confidential data up to 3.5 times quicker compared with a 3-year-old mainstream
notebook.
The chips also include Intel Anti-Theft technology that locks PC access if a
central server or built-in intelligence concludes the machine has been lost or
stolen. The most recent version of the technology, 2.0, enables encryption solutions
to disable access to cryptographic keys through hardware to completely block
access to data and also make it easier to reactivate the PC once it’s back in
the rightful hands, Intel said.
For IT administrators, the new Intel Keyboard-Video-Mouse remote control
features work in conjunction with Intel integrated graphics that enable admins
to see the users’ screens just as the users do and have full control of the PC,
even if the operating system isn’t working.