If you are near Columbia, Maryland and want to attend a hands-on learning event - register at the link below

http://www.syssrc.com/html/training/FreeSeminars.cgi?function=seminars&seminar=512

Sponsored by System Source

Presenters include Symantec and Intel

9:00 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.

Columbia Hilton Hotel, 5485 Twin Knolls Rd, Columbia, MD. -Directions: 410-997-1060

Today I was sent this URL, checked it and was impressed enough to share it with the community. http://ark.intel.com/Platforms.aspx

It gives you the ability to either map from a code name or a platform and find all ingredients that apply. This answers a lot of questions that i get asked & I see the community asks around vPro. Enjoy.

also if you have a good URL like this for a specific OEM please comment at the bottom of this blog. Thank You

Josh H

At ManageFusion Orlando and in The Hague, we did a hands-on lab which combined Intel vPro System Defense capabilities, customized network filter from Altiris, and Altiris Software Delivery to securely update a client(summary available at http://juice.altiris.com/node/5721)

One of the attendees pointed out the following real-world challenge: They are migrating from one security solution to another. This will temporarily expose their client systems to attacks. With the capability to do secure updates – as noted in the lab – they are much better positioned to do to the migration for vPro\AMT enabled systems.

If you’re unsure what 5 minutes “in the open” can do to unsecure client – read the following news article entitled “Malicious ‘botnets’ turn PCs into ‘zombie’ slaves” - http://www.oregonlive.com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/business/1224564910237820.xml&coll=7

Another attendee provided more reference to how they could use this. A classic "chicken/egg" problem - if a client is out of compliance or infected, it must be patched. The patch solution is on the production network, yet corporate policy states systems out of compliance are placed on an isolated or remediated network. So - how do you patch a client to which the production software delivery server cannot connect? Sneaker-net shouldn't be the answer... especially when the target client system is far outside the building you're in.

The key to remember about this use case - the System Defense filters must allow communications on the software delivery network ports. The Altiris Juice article above provides references on this is done in a Symantec\Altiris environment

On October 9th, 2008, a group of Intel Pro’s across the company got together to host a chat session. It was absolutely stellar, with great questions in all different areas of the client. Here is that transcript and I want to apologize for delay in posting this. Our goal was to post in 24 hrs, however we realized that it was not as possible as we liked it to be.

Chat Transcript - October 9th, 2008 - output from the chat session

ENJOY & stay tuned for a future chat.

Josh H

Brush off your calculator, this number is certainly going to make you cringe..  “  1984 Tons of CO2 a year.  “

If you leave your PC on AT night it will cost you money & contribute to your carbon footprint (NOT GOOD)!.

I’ve talked about power management for some time now & I’ve focused on the importance of power management, however what I have not talked about is the $$’s, #’s and the hard data.  Let me use this opportunity to do so.  After spending the last few months learning even more about power I would like to go after a few power data points (Power Points  ) that I think are going to make you cringe.

First let’s look at how electricity is made worldwide  - here’s a graph from - http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/ieo/electricity.html  showing worldwide electricity generation by fuel 2005-2030.  Coal is of course the #1 source worldwide for electricity generation.

Now let’s peak into the US. On Wikipedia.org @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_generation

In the US – 48.9% of electricity is created by coal.  At this point your probably wondering where I’m headed on this blog and what is my point..  well. If we know that coal worldwide is #1 and in the US it has 48.9% of generation source, then when we talk about not using electricity it should be a good thing ($$’s, eco friendly, etc..)  So let’s model it out.  !

________________________________________

First we need to lay out a few assumptions around what is a Managed PC & NON Managed PC.

• Here in this EPA presentation it discusses power cost comparison for both.  http://eetd.lbl.gov/EA/Reports/39466/39466-2  

• For this blog we are discussing a “Managed PC” and we are utilizing the energy star calculator located @ http://www.energystar.gov/ia/products/power_mgt/LowCarbonITSavingsCalc.xls

• Assuming a install base of 1000 well managed PC’s

What is the Output?

1000 well managed PC’s =

1,232,676, kWh of savings (CFO’s cringe)

1984 Tons of CO2 (Eco folks cringe here)

Now let’s make this specific by region on the US, if you utilize the following power rate’s - http://www.jea.com/services/electric/rates_quarterly.asp and since I’m headed to Florida I’ll utilize the current rate between $110-114/1000kwh, this equals $140k (Finance analyst take note –

is the response I’m looking for.  )

Now for certain regions of US the story ends here, however for power districts where coal is the source of electricity generation we move on to CO2.  Taking an average passenger car which produces 5.2 Ton’s of CO2 per year (quoted from EPA Site  http://www.epa.gov/OMS/climate/420f05004.htm#issue.).    If you take that same 1000 PC’s that equals 1984 tons of CO2 a year, make them vPro, manage them, you can potentially put the

  Sounds great right.. of course, now if you look at the 3 following case studies you will see more specific to Health & Education .

#1. Cleveland Clinic - http://communities.intel.com/openport/docs/DOC-1915

This article describes how Cleveland Clinic will achieve positive ROI of $442,000 in net power savings over 4 years and will also save 29,000 IT support man-hours in the same time period.

#2. University of Plymouth - http://communities.intel.com/openport/docs/DOC-2020

Recently, the University of Plymouth completed a refresh of their 4,800 desktop PCs, upgrading the systems to PCs with Intel® Core™2 processors with vPro™ technology in order to offer students the latest in IT services. The university was particularly interested in Intel® vPro™ technology because of the potential to allow intelligent power management, which could reduce power consumption and reduce the university’s carbon footprint.

#3.  IOT - http://communities.intel.com/openport/docs/DOC-1703

The State of Indiana’s newly consolidated Indiana Office of Technology (IOT) conducted a manageability assessment of PCs with Intel® Core™2 processor with vPro™ technology1. Their decision to convert 20,000 desktop systems to PCs with Intel® vPro™ technology within four years was based on reduced operational expenses2. The challenge was the consolidation of several IT service groups serving different agencies into a centralized service delivery organization while improving customer service and decreasing support costs

  vPro Managed PC = Lower costs for POWER = Reduce Carbon Footprint

________________________________________

Let’s take this to action now:  2 part story here, 1) what are the management consoles doing  2) what can you do with power software in the mix.

Scale out w/ the following power jobs:

*Altiris -  http://juice.altiris.com/article/2182/utilizing-intel-vpro-amt-technology-with-task-server-part-1-power-management

What are the leading software vendors saying?

JamieK’s blog on vPro Expert Center - http://communities.intel.com/openport/blogs/proexpert/2008/06/03/intro-to-verdiem-and-pc-power-management

 Verdiem web site http://www.verdiem.com/surveyor5/default.asp

A typical PC consumes nearly 600 kWh of electricity annually. SURVEYOR can help reduce that energy consumption by an average of 200 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per PC annually. In a PC-intensive organization, this typically represents a 3-6% annual reduction in total electricity consumption, saving an average of $20-$60 per PC annually. Additionally, by eliminating PC network energy waste, organizations also reduce associated CO2 greenhouse gas emissions.

 1E doc on the climate savers site: http://www.climatesaverscomputing.org/docs/Energy_Report_US.pdf

Power management software can reduce a PC’s power consumption by 80 percent, allowing com¬panies to save between $25 - $75 per desktop PC.28 Beyond automated “shut down,” power savings are derived during the day by automating monitor shut-down after a period of inactivity.

At 8.68 cents per kWh, a typical PC left on overnight wastes $55.13 a year. That’s more than $165,000 for a 10,000-PC enterprise that leaves 60 percent of its machines on, and $1.72 billion for the 60 percent of work computers that may be running across the country each night unnecessarily.

So… why did I say “Don’t share this BLOG with your finance Analyst or your ECO team, they will not be happy! .. “  Well if you’re the last to know about vPro and you have it in your IT shop, that could be a fun conversation to have with your CIO & CFO.    So.      “don’t be the last to know about vPro”..

PRIOR ENERGY BLOGS

Saving energy part III  - http://communities.intel.com/openport/blogs/proexpert/2008/05/15/saving-energy-part-iii-verdiem-nyquil-for-energyhog-pcs-

Saving Energy part II - http://communities.intel.com/openport/blogs/proexpert/2008/04/24/saving-energy-part-ii-managefusion-material

Saving Energy Part I - http://communities.intel.com/openport/blogs/proexpert/2008/04/10/saving-energy-does-it-matter

Eco Friendly PC - http://communities.intel.com/openport/blogs/proexpert/2008/06/17/i-have-the-first-eco-certified-computer-in-my-lab-yes

Announcement of EcoFriendly PC - http://communities.intel.com/openport/blogs/proexpert/2008/04/29/first-eco-certified-computer-interesting-article

The following document was created for customer preparation to ensure the success of activating vPro platforms within the customer's corporate production environment.

LANDesk Preparation Checklist for Intel(R) vPro(TM) Activation

A while back, I was talking with Dave McCray, a buddy in Intel's IT group, about a training room that he'd just finished equipping with Intel® vPro^TM Technology-based PCs. As the vPro PR guy, I'm always looking for stories that might interest the media and thought Dave's hands-on experience might yield some angles. Dave has been working with vPro since its early days, and as we chatted about the installation, it became apparent that he'd developed an extensive toolbox of BKMs (Intelese for "best known method methods") that make it quicker and easier to fire up vPro. We came up with the idea for a series of how-to videos as a way to share his honed procedures. To do that, we recruited another friend, Brett Twiggs, a systems engineer with LANDesk, an Avocent company, whose LANDesk* Management Suite incorporates vPro's capabilities in its user-friendly approach. The result is a four-part series of chats and hands-on demos that make the implementation and use of vPro that much easier, plus some sage advice gleaned from Brett's and Dave's experience. They start with some Shop Talk, and then discuss Green IT, Enhancing Security, and finally Remote Diagnostics and Repair. Hope these are helpful. And if you have some tips, let us know.

We have all heard of PEBKAC (Problem Exists Between the Keyboard and Chair) and we've heard the stories, seen the video's.

So.. Wendy (vPro Comms) and I were talking today about wanting to hear your favorite PEBKAC stories within the vPro community, please take a moment and share your favorite one out.

Looking forward to getting a good laugh.. LOL..

The identification and activation of vPro systems that are not remote configuration capable and that have not completed the provisioning/activation process prior to being placed in the field can be a daunting task in a large enterprise environment. Especially in the common situation where vPro systems have been deployed before backend infrastructure is in place.

To help address this, we created a small utility that leverages MEInfo to capture MEBx details related to activation, and store this data in the Windows registry. This allows for automated inventory methods to collect and report the information enterprise wide, allowing detailed planning of remote activation strategy.

The utility requires the same set of prerequistes as MEInfo to produce full detail, such as the HECI drivers to be in place, and Administrator priviledges on the local machine, but is small, silent, and Software Deployment friendly.

All of the data that iAMT Scan generates is stored in the local system registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE\INTEL\iAMT SCAN DATA

Consisting of the Following String Value Entries:

AMTSetupStatus - Provisioning State of the Management Engine

AMTVersion - AMT Version

BIOSVersion - System Bios Version

Date - Date the scan was performed

DHCPServer - IP Address of the DHCP Server that lease was obtained from

DNSServerOrder - DNS Search Order

FQDN - Fully Qualified name of the host based on NT/AD Domain

DNS_FQDN - Fully Qualified DNS Name for the Host Adapter

Gateway - Gateway (router) IP Address

HECIVersion - HECI Driver Version

MAC - AMT Capable HOST MAC Address

IPAddress - Current IP Address of Host at time of scan

LMSVersion - LMS Driver Version

Make - Manufacturer

Model - Manufacturer's Model

SerialNumber - Machine's Serial Number

SMSSiteCode - SMS Site the local machine is managed by (if available)

SubnetMask - Current IP Subnet Mask

SystemName - Host machine name

UNSVersion - UNS Driver Version

UUID - The Systems UUID

ProvisionServerPing - Ping status for ‘provisionserver' DNS entry

iAMT Scan v.0.3.0 Use Guide: User Guide-Using Intel® AMT Scan to identify the Intel vPro PCs in your environment

iAMT Scan v.0.3.0 Executable: Intel® AMT Scan Tool identifies the Intel vPro PCs in your environment

Have you ever wondered why an the Altiris Real-Time Console responds slowly? This is especially evident when doing training or demonstrations - you double click on a provisioned systems resource, which opens the real-time console. When selecting on the real-time tab - the clock pops up and spins for a little bit... and finally you are able to access the page.

Well - some tuning might help that situation. Take a look at http://juice.altiris.com/node/4071

In case you didn't click on the link - the short answer is that the Altiris console is attempting 4 connections - ASF, AMT, WMI, and SNMP. If all you need is AMT, or perhaps AMT and WMI - save a few threads and time by disabling the unneeded authentications. This is more than just leaving the entries blank in the configuration profile - it also involves registry changes. There are other excellent suggestions\inputs on the page. Click on the link above!