Intel vPro Expert Center Blog

Finding AMT Objects in Active Directory

pcgeek86@gmail.com — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:03:38 GMT

If you are using Out Of Band (OOB) Management in Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) 2007 SP1 (or greater) to manage your Intel vPro clients, you may have noticed that computer objects are created in your Active Directory domain during provisioning of the Intel vPro firmware. These computer objects are created by the amtproxymgr component of an OOB Service Point, and allow Intel vPro to communicate directory with Active Directory, regardless of the operating system state.

Since these vPro computer objects appear very similar to standard computer objects that are created when joining a Windows OS to an AD domain, it may be hard to distinguish which ones are vPro accounts, and which ones aren't. This situation can be worsened if you somehow have Windows computer accounts mixed into the same OU that contains your AMT objects.

As you'll see below, it's very easy to locate these computers using some simple PowerShell code:

$vprosearcher = [adsisearcher]"(&(objectclass=computer)(serviceprincipalname=*:16993*)(samaccounttype=805306368))"
$vproaccounts = $vprosearcher.FindAll()

These two lines of code simply create a System.DirectoryServices.DirectorySearcher instance, with some LDAP search criteria to identify the accounts, and then assigns the results of this search to a PowerShell variable called $vproaccounts. The default search root is the top-level of your Active Directory domain, and the default search scope is already set to SubTree, so you don't have to specifically configure these settings on the DirectorySearcher. Once you're at this point, you can simply enumerate the accounts, or pipe the results into a PowerShell ForEach loop, and perform some operation against them (for example, givem them a Description attribute value).

Because this code sample uses the "adsisearcher" type accelerator (aka. type shortcut), it will only work with PowerShell v2.0 (included as part of the Windows Management Framework), unless you modify PowerShell v1.0 to include it. There's almost no reason not to be using PowerShell 2.0, now that it has been officially released, however.

I recommend using the free Quest PowerGUI tool to develop and debug PowerShell scripts.

Cheers,

Trevor Sullivan

Fast Call for Help Video Demo - Altiris Client Management Suite v7 and Intel vPro technology

justin.van.buren@intel.com — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 06:34:51 GMT

At the recent Symantec ManageFusion 2009, Symantec announced the general availability of Symantec Altiris Client Management Suite Version 7.

One of the new features in Symantec Altiris Client Management Suite Version 7 is support for Intel Centrino 2 with vPro technology's "Fast Call for Help." The video below by Symantec's Senior Technical Manager Lee Bender is a demonstration of how an end-user would connect back to the Altiris Client Management Suite for remote diagnosis and repair of his notebook even though he connect boot into Windows and is outside of the corporate firewall.

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

Highlights of Gregory Bryant (Intel VP) in the opening Symantec ManageFusion 2009 keynote

justin.van.buren@intel.com — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 16:57:30 GMT

On May 10th, Intel Vice-President Gregory Bryant was part of the opening ManageFusion keynote led by Symantec's Steve Morton.

Gregory talked about how customers are realizing value today with Intel vPro technology and getting a return on investment that pays for itself in less than one year. He also talked about new Intel vPro technology product developments with Altiris Client Management Suite Version 7 and Symantec Workspace Streaming. View the highlights below or click here to see the full keynote.

Videos showcasing how Intel® Anti-Theft Technology works

justin.van.buren@intel.com — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 07:50:13 GMT

Last month, Intel introduced Intel® Anti-Theft Technology with support from Lenovo and Absolute Software.

There are various use models that this new technology enables, such as:

The ability to disable a lost notebook PC and the data on the hard drive even if it never connects to the network (based on IT policy)
The ability to send a "poison pill" so that the notebook PC is disabled, along with the data on the hard drive, if the notebook PC is connected to the internet
The ability to re-activate the notebook PC if it is found again

Watch the following Intel Anti-Theft Technology demo with Intel executives Dadi Perlmutter and Pat Gelsinger from Fall IDF 2008 and learn more about how this new technology helps with theft deterrance.

For a more in-depth demonstration of Intel Anti-Theft Technology with Absolute Software, watch the following video:

Listen to industry analysts discuss benefits of Intel Anti-Theft Technology and why this technology is an important milestone that will help with notebook PC theft deterrence in the future.

Listen to a Lenovo executive discuss the benefits that Intel Anti-Theft Technology will bring to Lenovo based notebook PCs.

Listen to Absolute executives discuss how they are taking advantage of Intel Anti-Theft Technology in their software and services.

Last, listen to Intel's Anand Pashupathy, George Thangadurai and Duncan Glendinning comment on the benefits of the new technology.

Another Add, here's Josh Hilliker talking about Anti-Theft Technology @ the beach.

What Acronym best describes Intel® vPro Technology? (MMS 08)

justin.van.buren@intel.com — Tue, 20 May 2008 00:10:44 GMT

Sometimes within Intel Marketing, we're told that our description of Intel Centrino with vPro technology or Intel Core 2 with vPro technology is a bit lengthy. Therefore, while at MMS 08, we asked Intel customers as well as technical experts from Intel and Microsoft to give us their best, most concise acronym that best describes Intel vPro Technology. Listen to their responses below.

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To see more videos from MMS 08, go to http://www.intel.com/go/mms/

Future Directions on Intel vPro Technology with Symantec

justin.van.buren@intel.com — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:23:10 GMT

While at ManageFusion, Symantec Director of Strategic Alliances Kevin Unbedacht discussed some of the future directions on Intel vPro technology that Symantec is taking advantage of. In the video below, learn how Symantec is taking advantage of the upcoming Intel Centrino 2 with vPro Technology.

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New ROI Tool and Study for Intel Centrino with vPro technology

justin.van.buren@intel.com — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 19:37:01 GMT

With the launch of Intel Centrino with vPro technology - several medium to large customers (with 1000 or more PCs in the infrastructure) have asked for Intel's help with building the financial business case for the new technology. Given this need, Intel asked WiPro to survey senior IT managers from 41 companies about current notebook PC management costs that could potentially be reduced by taking advantage of the new technology. WiPro specifically focused on PC maintenance costs that IT usually budgets for on an annual basis (these are "hard dollar costs", such as help desk calls, help desk visits (especially for hardware and software malfunctions - such as OS blue screens and hard drive failures), auditing, security incidents, software patch deployment costs, major application (such as Office) deployment costs into the infrastructure, etc.).

WiPro's findings are as follows:

Estimated hard dollar savings of up to ~$140 / PC / year with Intel Centrino with vPro technology vs. the mobile PC in the installed PC base today
Reduces the need for hardware-related desk-side visits by as much as 58% and for software-related desk-side visits by as much as 57%
Up to 51% faster patch saturation per incident and reduces number of inventory failures by 62%
Enterprises can take advantage of most of the Intel Centrino with vPro technology features (including remote diagnosis and repair) in the mobile PC form factor for about 16 hours a day (the other 8 hours, on average, the mobile PC is asleep or off-line, and an IT manager cannot use the Intel vPro technology features)

For those interested in the report, please read about it here: http://www.intel.com/business/business-pc/roi/centrinoprowhitepaper.pdf

In order to help customers model the "hard dollar" savings in your environment, Intel has created the Intel Centrino with vPro technology and Intel Core2 with vPro technology ROI Estimator that is based on the data from the above study, as well as another study that focused on desktops with Intel Core2 with vPro technology that was published last year. This ROI Estimator is located here: http://www.intel.com/business/business-pc/roi/demo.htm

To learn more about the ROI Estimator and the desktop and mobile PC studies, please listen to Josh, me and WiPro talk about them in this PodTech videocast: http://www.podtech.net/home/4679/roi-intel-vpro-technology-in-the-enterprise

Cheers -

Justin Van Buren

Intel Business Marketing Manager

Is Apple's iPhone better than a robot weed wacker?

todd.sussman@mrmworldwide.com — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 14:51:00 GMT

If you're like me then you love gadgets, gizmos, do-hickeys and cool new inventions. If so, then check out Time Magazines latest list of "[The Best Inventions of the Year]". Everything from Flexible, ultra-thin LED screens that can actually bend and twist to the latest in robot gardening to a little known product called the iPhone*. And in the Computer category, Intel's engineers have been recognized for their hard work in leveraging a new alloy, Hafnium, which cuts down on electricity leakage in the new Intel(r) 45-nanometer Core processor . Congratulations!

Check it out >