Intel vPro Expert Center Blog

What happens when a few hundred systems power-on via vPro?

terry.c.cutler@intel.com — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 13:17:41 GMT

With Intel vPro Technology allowing for improved remote management via reliable power-on, boot redirection, and so forth - using the technology in a day-to-day environment might reveal some unexpected behaviors.

The unexpected behaviors are not necessarily the technology, but how the technology is used.

Outside of Intel vPro technology, how responsive is an IT infrastructure during the morning hours? Consider that workers are powering on systems, logging in, getting email downloads, opening intranet sites\applications, etc. From an IT infrastructure perspective, there will be noticeable uptake on system\infrastructure resources as logon requests are processed, web pages are served up, etc. It's like the morning commute where you and a few thousand others are trying to get onto the highway... (and for those out there that enjoy working from home, you're not isolated. The IT infrastructure still has to handle the VPN connectivity, email downloads, etc, etc)

Well - Intel vPro technology is sometimes blamed for unexpected traffic or application responsiveness issues. For example, a collection of systems are scheduled to power-on at 3am for patching\maintenance. Intel vPro technology will help in powering on the target collection of systems - be it a few hundred or a few thousand. The nature of the Intel vPro technology communications is unicast, and there is an authentication with possible encryption process that has to happen. If Kerberos authentication is needed, that means that the management server is utilize Microsoft Active Directory Kerberos authentication to login to the Intel vPro technology of the target systems, followed by sending the desired commands. That whole communication cycle might be a few 100kb of data on the network - relatively minimal. But - when that 100kb is replicated a few hundred or thousands times for a per instance between management server and target client systems, the traffic will be higher on the network and applications queues.

Let's play out this scenario one step further. A collection of systems (again few hundred or few thousand depending on your collection size\structure) are powering on with agents\services starting up, and some of those agents are attempting to authentication and communicate on the network. It may be network authentication due to endpoint access control (i.e. 802.1x, NAC, NAP, etc). It may be a check-in and update sequence with an internal patching, security definition update server (i.e. McAfee), and so forth. What might be a viewed as a flood of traffic on the network should not be targeted as the fault of Intel vPro technology... but in how the technology was utilized, and how available the infrastructure was to handle the flood of requests.

Similarly, using Intel vPro technology to power-off a collection of systems would be equivalent to pressing\holding the power button on all of the systems to force a hard shutoff. The power-on or power-off sequence via Intel vPro technology directly changes the power state from S0 (system on) to S5 (system off). For some applications or services this might cause corruption of file cache, logs, data, and so forth. A better approach would be to utilize a graceful power-off for a healthy operating system environment. This can be done via WMI call, management agent, windows script with command like "shutdown -s -f -t 5", and so forth. Intel vPro technology is talking directly to the hardware, is operating system agnostic, and was meant to be utilized in scenarios where the host operating system was unavailable or inoperable.

Video Demo of Incendio vMinder Portal: Operational Integration of Intel® vPro™ Technology

justin.van.buren@intel.com — Mon, 04 May 2009 21:19:38 GMT

While at Symantec ManageFusion 2009, we had a chance to talk with Mike Dunham, Executive Director of Product Management for Incendio Technology. In the video below, he talks about the Incendio vMinder Portal, which allows IT profrossional to utilize the Symantec Altiris Client Management Suite without needing console access. From the Incendio vMinder Portal, the IT professional can access Intel vPro technology features such as reliable remote power control that are part of the Symantec Altiris Client Management Suite.

To learn more about Intel's presence at Symantec ManageFusion 2009, go to: http://www.intel.com/go/managefusion/

Video Testimonials from IT Managers on Symantec Altiris Client Management Suite with Intel vPro Technology

justin.van.buren@intel.com — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 01:54:04 GMT

While at Symantec ManageFusion 2009, we had a chance to talk to IT executives and managers from Las Vegas Sands Corporation, Blue Cross Blue Shield and McCormick Spice Company and Lee Bender, senior technical manager from Symantec. In this video, they talk about benefits of Symantec Altiris Client Management Suite v6.5 (and above) with Intel vPro Technology, including power management, remote diagnosis and repair, and fast call for help.

To learn more about Intel's presence at Symantec ManageFusion 2009, go to: http://www.intel.com/go/managefusion/

Enterprise testimonials: Reduce Power Consumption with Intel vPro Technology

justin.van.buren@intel.com — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 17:22:10 GMT

While at Symantec ManageFusion 2009, we had a chance to talk to IT executives and managers from Disney International, Fox Interactive Media, Las Vegas Sands Corporation and McCormick Spice Company and industry analysts from IDC, Enterprise Management Associates and Ptak, Noel & Associates LLC about Intel vPro technology and industry trends. In the video below, they discuss the impact of Intel vPro technology on power consumption reduction and energy cost reduction.

To learn more about Intel's presence at Symantec ManageFusion 2009, go to: http://www.intel.com/go/managefusion/

Coming Next Week: IT Power Management Webinar

michele.gartner@intel.com — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 21:09:13 GMT

On March 30, Climate Savers Computing, the EPA, and Forrester are co-producing a webinar on IT Power Management. One of the case studies highlights Intel vPro technology. This is another great (and free!) opportunity to learn more about power savings!

Visit this site to register: http://www.climatesaverscomputing.org/it-power-management-summit

We're hosting an online conference - and it's FREE!

michele.gartner@intel.com — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 21:39:34 GMT

Come join us for our first ever virtual conference on the Intel vPro Expert Center. This virtual conference series, entitled Intel Solutions for Today's Economy, kicks off on Tuesday, March 24th. The first installment is "Optimize Your Business and Improve the Bottom Line." The overall theme of the webinar will be discussing how to do more with less.

Is it just Intel people talking about Intel?

No! Here's the cool part. We are bringing in several users who have implemented Intel vPro technology in their workplace - they will be discussing how they now save time and money by using PCs with vPro technology - as well as how they are increasing organizational productivity. You'll be able to ask them questions at the end of their presentation.

Our featured speakers are:

Paul Baltzell, Director of Distributed Services for the Indiana Office of Technology
Dan Lutter, Director, Field Technology Services at Advocate Healthcare

Event Logistics

Date: Tuesday, March 24th

Time: 8:00 am PDT

How to Register

Visit this link to visit the registration page: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/862206193

More Information

http://communities.intel.com/docs/DOC-2709

Intel and Symantec Land a Haymaker on Energy Costs

scott1.e.smith@intel.com — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:04:49 GMT

Intel and Symantec have landed another punch on the chin of excess energy use. In an enhancement akin to putting a horseshoe in a boxing glove, Symantec’s new Altiris Client Management Suite 7.0 takes advantage of Intel vPro technology’s latest capability to extend IT’s reach outside the corporate firewall.

As a result, IT can literally shut the lights out on the PCs that were previously bobbing and weaving just outside its reach. Many companies have an always-on rule – everyone has to leave their computers glow all night so IT can perform routine maintenance, install patches and other tasks. Of course, this makes electric bills soar and leaves an enormous carbon footprint.

With advent of vPro three years ago, Altiris Management Suite users began turning off PCs when not in use. Intel vPro enable IT to turn them back on remotely just long enough for the task at hand and then turn them off. However, this was only as long as the PCs were on the corporate network.

With the latest version of vPro, the firewall is no longer an obstacle with a couple of benefits. First is extending IT’s reach, but second is enabling those remote end-users to place a fast call for help. With a few keystrokes, a telecommuter or traveler with computer trouble now can immediately connect with IT for a fix. But, of course, wasted energy isn’t the only opponent IT is nose to nose with these days.

The shrinking IT budget has a number of moves that has IT professionals worldwide feeling punch-drunk. In this conversation, Intel Product Manager Tracie Zenti and Symantec Strategic Alliance Director Kevin Unbedacht discuss additional tactics, including a rather counterintuitive approach in a recession – spending money to save money. I hear you, but give them a listen, especially how the State of Indiana saved $1.4 million.

Intel AMT and Mesh Networking

ylian.saint-hilaire@intel.com — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 17:29:19 GMT

In the last part of the latest edition of the Intel Technology Journal (ITJ), I write about a new usage for Intel AMT and peer-to-peer computing. See Extreme Programming with Intel® vPro™ Technology: Pushing the Limits with Innovative Software.

The general idea is that you can use Intel AMT to represent a computer while it’s asleep to the rest of the peers. Normally, when you have lots of computers talking to each other in a peer-to-peer network and one of them goes to sleep, it just disappears from the network, just as if it had been completely disconnected.

Intel AMT can allow for network presence of a sleeping computer in a peer-to-peer network by creating an Intel AMT guest account that is very limited in its access (General Info + 3PDS) but allows other computers in the network to occasionally connect and read it’s sleeping state. This has many benefits: In the past, peer-to-peer networks required all computers to be always on; this is no longer the case. By using 3PDS, even off, computers are still discoverable and searchable.

Imagine for a moment 100 sleeping computers in a room. Someone wakes one up and searches for a tutorial video file located on one of the other sleeping computers. With Intel AMT and a peer-to-peer network, software can search all of the computers, find the one with the file, wake it up and download the file. Everything is very power efficient.

This technique does not have to be used only for files; you can find hardware, free disk space, backups, software and hardware services, etc.

Ylian

Reading the power state using Intel AMT

ylian.saint-hilaire@intel.com — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 16:50:21 GMT

Ok, I have one more trick for all you Intel AMT developers trying to build high security software. One good use of Intel AMT is for power state monitoring, one could build an application that polls many computers for their power state and plots the results on a graph. You can see just how “green” your network is. Typically to do this, you call the Intel AMT method to get the power state periodically located in the Remote Control security realm of Intel AMT.

The way Intel AMT security realms are designed: granting a user access to the Remote Control realm gives this user access to reading the power state but also turning on and shutting down (hard shutdown) the computer. As a result, the nice monitoring application you are building can only be run by trusted administrators. It would be nice to be able to create an Intel AMT user with only minimal access to features that could only be used to read the power state and not much else. This is not technically possible…

But wait, there is a trick! Create a user account within Intel AMT with only General Info and Hardware Inventory access. These two realms are the minimum needed to access the Intel AMT web UI. Then, using a normal browser we can load the Web UI and notice that the computer power state is displayed on the web page! With a little code, we can extract this information out of what is normally a human readable web page.

Of course, this is a hack and your software may need to be upgraded as new firmware may change the WebUI. Still, it’s such a good trick; I use it with great success in my own code. Note that the Intel AMT 2.0 page is a little different from Intel AMT 2.5 and above. So far, I have to handle 2.0 differently but the same parsing code seems to work on all Intel AMT computers (up to 5.0). Also, that web UI page is very fast and you get, as bonus information, the computer’s unique identifier and Intel AMT time in a single call.

The only drawback I have noticed is that the WebUI will show the string “Standby” for both S1 and S3 states. So you can’t tell exactly what power state it’s sleeping in. Otherwise, you can detect S0, S4 and S5 states.

Ylian

vPro - Power Management - Next Radio Show is tomorrow.. eat your lunch & listen to Pro's on Power..

josh.hilliker@intel.com — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 19:18:46 GMT

For those that have been watching my blogs over the last 3 months I have spent a lot of time on power management, what it means, how do you save $$’s, therefore this radio show means a lot to me as we are meeting with the key folks that I respect as the Power Pro’s. Here’s the scoop:

Tomorrow. Jeff Torello, Russ Pam & I will be talking with 4 of our key Power Management folks inside Intel. Greg Boitano, Robert Reed, Jeff Tripp & Doug DeVetter.

Time: 12:30PM PST (30 Min show)

Call-in Number: (347) 326-9831

Location: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/openport/2008/12/02/Intel-vPro-Expert-Center-Its-all-about-Power-Management-Green-IT

You can dial in to ask questions, chat with us, stream during the show or download from Itunes after.

I thought it would be good to include a # of case studies we have on this topic, therefore the team is pulling the list together & I'll update this post this afternoon.

- Josh H

Power Management - GO Green & Get a Rebate

josh.hilliker@intel.com — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 18:53:31 GMT

In continuation of my quest to learn more about power and identify who's making the IT shop transition to power management a possibility, I have news to report out on.

Today while talking with a Frank (Intel IT) he mentioned that the very company I used to work for is now giving out rebates to customers that are utilizing power management software to control their PC's. Specifically if you are in the Northern California area, the power company is called PG&E (Pacific Gas & Electric) www.pge.com.

Here are the conditions: (Please note the NO laptop portion).

NETWORK PC POWER MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE

Must be a PG&E electric customer. The installation of qualifying

software must allow centralized control at the server level of the

power management settings (sleep mode and shutdown) of PCs

on a distributed network. In addition, the software must have a

reporting feature that allows monitoring and validation of energy

savings. Qualifying software must be purchased and installed on

or after March 1, 2007. When contacted, customers must allow

PG&E access to customer property site to verify the software

license installation at the server level and the number of PCs

being controlled by the system. When submitting a rebate

worksheet, customers must ensure the following documentation

is attached:

1. copy of Software License Agreement,

2. a report directly from the Network Energy Management

Software that verifies the number of PCs that are being

controlled by the system, and

3. the number of computers authorized per License.

New Requirements

• Effective August 8, 2008, the rebate for the qualifying

software is for control of desktop PCs only.

• Effective August 8, 2008, a rebate will not be available for

control of laptop and laptop stations.

• Customers who purchase qualifying software by August 8,

2008 for laptop and laptop stations will receive a rebate if

applications are postmarked or received by PG&E’s Integrated

Processing Center (IPC) by October 8, 2008.

• Applications postmarked or received by PG&E’s IPC on or

after October 8, 2008 are not eligible for a rebate for laptop

and laptop stations.

Product Code Rebate/Unit Measure

M03 Network PC Power

Management Software $15.00/perPC

http://www.pge.com/includes/docs/pdfs/mybusiness/energysavingsrebates/rebatesincentives/eefficiency/ref/computing/08businesscomputing.pdf

How wide spread is this across the globe? i know in New York this is happening, where else?

Don’t share this BLOG with your finance Analyst or your ECO team, they will not be happy! ..

josh.hilliker@intel.com — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 05:57:09 GMT

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 –

WOW

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

equivalent of 400 cars off the road per year.

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

NET NET:

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

I have the first ECO certified computer in my lab - YES!

josh.hilliker@intel.com — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 20:07:27 GMT

Awhile back I picked up on an article around the first eco certified computers from Lenovo. First ECO Certified Computer - Interesting Article

Well the machine was ordered, arrived & hooked up in the lab.

The next question is, how can we take this ECO-certified computer & match up a Power Management solution to show that we can save $$'s in the "Managed Power" space. This is our next step in the lab.

First ECO Certified Computer - Interesting Article

josh.hilliker@intel.com — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 23:51:51 GMT

Sharing with the community a recent thread I just picked up.

http://abunchofgreens.blogspot.com/2008/04/first-eco-certified-computer-lenovos.html

Eco is the first ThinkCentre computer made with recycled, post-consumer plastics and is EPEAT Gold and Energy Star ® 4.0 rated. The system comes with Intel vPro technology, Core 2 Duo E6550 / E8200 / E8400 Processor, 2GB DDR2 RAM, 160GB HDD, Dual Layer DVD Burner, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100, and Windows Vista Business

Saving Energy - Part II - ManageFusion Material

josh.hilliker@intel.com — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 19:21:14 GMT

Back on the topic of Energy, I received a presentation that Rick Maddox (Symantec) reviewed at ManageFusion that explains Energy Wasting Statistics (for example: 60% of PCs are left on overnight). Also:

•Typical PC uses 588 kWh of energy per year

–1,000 lbs of CO2

–2/3 of the energy is wasted

–15 PCs = 1 mid-size car

Wow!. very interesting when you compare to a mid-size car. In this presentation Rick goes on to show how Altiris is making a difference with it's partners as well as showed their Energy Saver toolkit. I have not used this toolkit as of yet, however here is the info page on their site. http://www.altiris.com/Products/EnergySaverToolkit.aspx.

Here's the full presentation:

Rick Maddox - ManageFusion - Green IT

Update on tools, I'm still working to get a set of tools that I can share out or reference from the community around power. I hope to blog about this in the next 1-2 weeks. If you are interested to hear what i'm doing check out my last blog.