Virtual World - a computer based world that represents all aspects of life, as we know it. There are many fun and exciting examples of ways people have turned aspects of our world into a virtual world, and often these are found in massively multiplayer online games. However, one virtual representation I have been learning about lately is one called virtual appliances. Virtual appliances represent complex software stacks in a virtual environment. However, with a virtual appliance we are taking something that is often very complex and have high maintenance costs and representing it as single application. The virtual appliances I have been learning about lately are not representing real life in a fun environment, but solving real problems by interfacing with the vPro features.

Recently Nicole Trent wrote a blog on Microsoft SCE. It is one of the many examples (you can find an abundance of appliances on the vPro Expert Center) of virtual appliances that can be used to interact with the features in vPro. These appliances are useful when you perform inventory and maintenance to vPro clients as they bundle the software you use to manage the clients into one location. Then you can use this to control your clients from your server by using the remote capabilities.

If you have a whole lot of clients in your business that need to be updated over night because it's critical for these to be in service for the day, you would can use a virtual appliance that contains the IT software needed to make up that script so IT wouldn't have to be there over night. These scripts can execute and maintain your machine while you're away from your desk, sleeping or having a fun weekend. Best of all, the IT people that make these scripts are allowed to have their nights and weekends as well, as the scripts can execute fully automated.

This is convenient for the "green" factor. We are able to send applications with aid of AMT without wasting anybody's time that would go desk side and put the application on each computer or if the computer itself needs help because it's in trouble. They would just apply it at one time not wasting time, money, and packaging (my past blogs emphasizing these features). When the alternative is having an IT person going from one site to another, this helps lower gas consumption.

This is just another tool to our future of virtual computing. The more comes out the more it helps aid in situations that only a few years ago that is changing the way our businesses are operating. Now that it's here we should be able to use it to it's full extent it's up to us to use push the limits.

P.S. This week most of us (yes vPro lovers, Mr. Josh Hilliker will be gracing us with his presence!) will be at IDF there will be a lot of good stuff coming out of the vPro Expert Center. If you cannot be there check, out the vPro site there will be blogs and radio shows (which by the way Blog Talk is on iTunes for free download- search Intel Open Port Radio) who know maybe you will hear me!! Stay tuned

Ah...I love talking about virtualization. Virtualization feels like some non-reality spectrum. It is as if you can manipulate it to do anything with it. The topic just seems endless; technology is starting to run with the idea of that. With vPro, virtualization will be able to go farther. Remote manageability aids in the virtualization area. The thought of two different versions of a program being on the same client and the computer not being able to have them up is a thing of the past. They wouldn't even know that each other were there.

With the real world in mind, big companies with many different offices could stream private information to each other with vPro. This would prevent sensitive information from leaking out to the wrong hands. Hospitals would benefit from this because when their patients' files are in their data base they can just stream the whole data from their server to the client computer where the doctor is, again security would help aid against any tampering of sensitive documents.

Besides sending out vital and sensitive information, there are also necessary items that people would need that they could stream. School is a great area for that. They are implementing it in a few schools(St. Agnes Prep School Use emerge Compute Models With video). I know there are plenty of times where I have to carry three books and my back felt as if it was going to break. Also, I hated switching the books around depending on what day it was. I could have all my information on the laptop that I was carrying anyways would do me a lot more good.

With vPro, the universities will be able to have a few servers that will check on the laptops that are given out to the students. If there are any problems with the software (it wouldn't have to be just with the books, it could be with software that the university has rights to) that was being streamed the server computer can detect it and fix them remotely. As a college student, I would love to have all my information just through my computer. I wouldn't have to worry about trucking all my stuff everywhere and it's all centrally located in one area. For a company, it ensures that all information needed is gathered in one area that can be obtained by the employees and it can be relayed back and forth.

How many times have you gone to the ATM and it says that it's out of service? For the financial intuitions, how about all of those remote ATM that is difficult to go out and service the computer? With vPro the sever will be anywhere and it can service the client away from the machine, saving the financial institutes plenty because the service guy does not have to go out at all hours. They can check if there is anything wrong with it's software or hardware away from the computers within minutes.

vPro is able to extend the possibilities of virtualization. It has helped to be able communicate two (or more) computers together and talk to each other. knowing that we could go farther and farther with the technology of vPro and having Centrino2 coming out, it's only going to be even more endless. The excuse that the dog ate my homework will not work anymore. (I think I am going to try to find a virtual dog!)

Understanding vPro- Chapter 5: Enhanced Maintenance (I just want to wrap a big hug around AMT!!)

Understanding vPro: Chapter 4 vPro: What is with this trusted environment?

Understanding vPro: Chapter 3- Proactive Security- did Intel put a tiny guard dog in my computer???

“The Intern’s” Understanding vPro: Chapter 2-What is it used for/ why should I use it?

I had the pleasure of sitting in on a presentation that Josh Hilliker and Todd Christ for some clients this last week about vPro. As I was sitting there, it dawned on me I didn't realize how good the maintenance is. It really came to me because of Josh's passion and Todd's Knowledge drove it home during this presentation.

The chipset has a lot to do with it. Active Management Technology (AMT) is the featured product. I know I have mentioned a lot about AMT but I never really dove into this subject. It is such a vital part of vPro. This little chipset makes sure that the Operating System (OS) is not jeopardized by outside sources. No matter what state the OS is in, AMT will go in and protect it. AMT would tell the server that its needs help then IT would "cut" most of the connection to only enough to communicate remotely between the server and the client. To make this user friendly on the sever side IDE-Redirection (IDE-R) and Serial over LAN (SOL) are there to help the operator with remotely diagnosing and repairing client systems. To go further on how it has been done Brad Lund did a blog called Using SOL/IDE-R to Diagnose and Repair vPro Clients on the vPro expert center site.

AMT is a force of nature in the chip world. Not only does it help with the protection of the hardware it also makes sure the hardware is up to date, nothing is wrong with it, if there was a problem with it then it would let the server know about it. All of the points are below which tells its main benefits. The name and link is Intel® Active Management Technology.

Features and Benefits

Intel® Active Management Technology (Intel® AMT)

For a business, this is solid reasoning to insure that your information isn't going to be destroyed. That could cost a company millions in time and money if the information is gone. Think for a moment that I was sitting here, writing on a blog and suddenly my computer caught a virus. With out this featured product to protect my computer from hazards then all my work would be gone. That would make for a very unhappy intern. Computers just might fly through the air. Ahhh, but the pleasure of having such a luxury like vPro makes life so much better. I wouldn't have to worry about my work being gone. And I wouldn't feel bad because I wouldn't get anybody else infected with that pesky virus.

There was another thought in all of this, I am really bad at keeping up to date on my hardware and software. Even if it give me the sign saying that I need to update my items, I tend to either ignore them or I just plain forget them (of course I check all the time on my work computer, J). It would be even better for employees and me to have our computers update while we are not at our computers. While the employees are gone, IT can set up a script for vPro to check all of the points and update the licenses, then shut down the computer once again (or restart the computers; however, the company would like to do it). When the employees come back, everything would be as if they never left. That would save companies a lot alone because they are getting more productivity time.

This little piece of equipment is so vital to the pulse of vPro. The three words that come best that I found through my research is that AMT "Discovers, heals, and protects".

Since the previous blog was [Proactive Security|p-11339] I feel it is only suiting to discuss the trusted environment. What the trusted environment comes down to is the hardware. Even though trusted environments are virtual, the hardware is needed to feed out any of the potential problems that can occur. Items such as viruses and hackers that can take over the PC and destroy any information we have on there, vPro will be able to, as I said in previous blog, weed out any problems. This is so cool, just think about it, it would be like a six foot, hammering crazy man, finding problems and taking care of them with his deadly hammers. (If I was a bug, I would be scared!)

This trusted environment is very much an issue in today's world. With vPro technology, it will help reduce this vulnerability. The trusted execution technology (TXT) is a new technology that helps within the virtualized computing environments. It will help on getting less software issues to come up. How this works is the TXT work with the virtualization technology for Directed I/O, the hardware will protect or isolate assigned memory to make the virtual machine less prone to attacks.

I came across a case study in my research: a huge hospital by the name of Nottingham University Hospitals (NHS) that has two different primary sites that are 30 min apart. With 6,000 desktops that are there imagine how much they would spend in IT alone. Once this was implemented in the two primary sites, it takes them only 10 minutes to deal with support calls, which would even mean when the client is powered down, instead of two hours. If you would like to read more about this case study go to [The Future of IT Support.|d-1131]

Where else would you want a trusted environment to happen? Make sure nobody can get your personal information that you do not want to, but when other physicians and/or staff that need to get to your records, they are able to. If that computer that has all your information is not working properly then other problems can occur and it would be a domino effect. vPro will be able to let the server have access this information and plug it into another client.

Let us look beyond this; how about Financial institutes'? They have a lot of personal information there. If the clients went down at a branch, a main server can come in and fix most software problems from a main site. Less desk side service would mean more money that would be distributed. I like more money also I like having reliability in an area that is holding my money. For some reason I like to retrieve what I put in. Stock markets have many people with computers, which would mean that there could be potential problems. If that happens instead of trying to figure out where that person is, they can fix the problem remotely. The main server that IT works on would make sure that all of the clients are protected from harmful outside sources.

See now don't you wish you always had a big guy with hammers to destroy anything bad!!

Understanding vPro: Chapter 1- What is it?

Understanding vPro: Chapter 2-What is it used for/ why should I use it

Understanding vPro: Chapter 3- Proactive Security- Does it have a tiny guard dog???

Wow, what a question to come up with. It is pretty broad. What is it used for? To have that cool sticker planted on your laptop or on your desktop? Is it a status issue? The first blog I posted did tell a little about vPro. It is a tiny little processor, no bigger than an aspirin pill, if you saw on the floor you would just throw it away, more likely, it would be lodged in your foot. That tiny little piece is so vital to what would take us to the future of virtual technology because of the remote management capabilities.

Imagine this:

*I have a friend who lives in, oh I don't know, Timbuktu and he comes over here to visit me here in Folsom. He realized he needed to get a file from his computer. Well, if he has the vPro processor in his computer and I, of course, have one in mine, he will be able to get what he needs from his computer virtually. You think to yourself: what a simple but complicated idea. It's complicated because you think, how does it do that? I don't have to go anywhere and I would be able to fix a computers software from my house. *</stro</p>

If the operating system is unresponsive, the power is off, and even if the hardware has failed, with vPro you are able to fix, protect, and get anything from your computer. That would save companies money, and who doesn't like to save money. They wouldn't have to fly a technician out to fix a computer. The technicians would have an opportunity to fix more than just one or two PC's. They can sit at their office and fix multiple PC's.

There is one thing I can't wrap my brain around you can work on the system when it's powered off? That was one thing that perplexed me from the last blog. Everyone knows you need power for any electric to work or for it to read anything, assuming everyone does know that. Well, I guess that not true if your system has vPro. It has a remote power up item on it. Amazingly, it can turn on a pc or laptop. But for this to only work is if the system is plugged into a wired LAN (Local Area Networks, they are special grades of twisted pair wires and network adapters connect the devices) and is connected to an AC power source then it will be able to be tapped into.

Crazy concept huh?!?!

Why would I personally use it since I am not a business? Well simple, convenience. If I am a busy person and I needed something from my computer at home and I am on my business laptop I can just do a couple of clicks and I have it. Or, in one instance, you are on a business trip and your family at home (surprisingly) screwed up the house computer and they can't get anything that they want off of it. You manage to be 1000 miles away but fix all the problems in an hour and you are the hero!! This little chip could be saving you a lot of money and time.

Next blog- HMMM...So many possibilities!! Stay tuned

-Sophia "the Intern" Stalliviere

• Note to self* would that mean it's also a "green product" because it would cut down on cost for gas since I wouldn't have to travel anywhere to fix something? I guess that might have to wait to be a whole other blog.