Here are some photo highlights from the Intel Anti-Theft Technology session at IDF. You can download the presentation at http://www.intel.com/go/idfsessions. Click on the thumbnails to see fullsize pictures.

After working with Intel vPro technology for over 3 years - I still get surprised by little features that appear in the product.   Some features might not sound too interesting at first, but upon seeing how these are used my opinion changes.

One such features is the "PC Alarm Clock" capability in AMT 5, with software development support in the Intel AMT SDK 5.1.

An overview of this features is explained at http://communities.intel.com/docs/DOC-3483.... why that article is posted in the Server Room area of Open Port I do not know.

I was at IDF2009 this week and had a chance to visit the McAfee showcase booth.  What I saw was very impressive.   PC Alarm Clock provides a uniform "wake-up" at a defined time with an indication of what caused the power-on.   Was the system powered on because of a user hitting the power button or did the PC Alarm clock trigger the event?   Before visiting the McAfee booth, my first thought was "hey - that can be done via a system BIOS".   Well - I got some education.

Not all OEM BIOS setups support a timed wake-up.   If they do - having a uniform access to configure\control across OEMs would require disparate tools.   Plus - having a mechanism for an agent to know whether the system was powered due to user local to system or scheduled time is helpful.  Plus - an Intel AMT power-on event to a collection of systems is possible IF those systems are connected and IF you are okay with a unicast message to each system thus having a potential delay from first system to last system that powers on.  Plus - with PC Alarm Clock within Intel AMT - the time is synchronized.  Etc, etc

So here's the situation.   To avoid disrupting work hours with anti-virus scans or other maintenance routines... what if the system were scheduled to power-on at 3am to perform these tasks.   If powered on via PC Alarm clock, what McAfee agent will do is sense this and know that it's time to run a scan, and so forth.   At the conclusion of the scan, the McAfee setup will gracefully shutdown the system.   Thus - all assigned systems get a set time to power-on... and at that set time, all systems power-up, check to ensure it was a scheduled power-on, run the scan, and then return to an off start gracefully.

Ok - to some that might seem too simple to really matter.   But to me, after working with various management solutions and Intel vPro technology - that's a better cool approach.   It's a difference of push vs. pull... and when you're talking about hundreds or thousands of systems being orchestrated to perform an event... that little feature called "PC Alarm Clock" in the right hands such as McAfee... it's pretty cool

What do you think?

Enjoy this shout out..

• Client virtualization enables IT and end-user value
• Optima3 l balance with Dynamic Virtual Clients
• DVC with vPro technology for secure manageability, trusted execution, and robust virtualization
• Virtualization drives new hardware requirements

Here's a good showcase from Paul on vPro and the new features, including anti-theft.   Also what is very cool is the example of a MID in the enterprise that can kick off the kill pill for a stolen laptop.

More to come in the classes and highlights from the team.  Stay Tuned for more.    I'll also put on a higher res version post IDF. 

PROS001 Technical Overview of Next Generation Intel® vPro™ Technology
PROS002 Increasing Client Manageability with Intel® vPro™ Technology and Microsoft* System Center Configuration Manager 2007
PROS003 Client Virtualization and Intel® vPro™ Technology
PROS004 Small and Medium Business: How to Deliver Intel® vPro™ Technology
PROS005 Thieves Beware: Intel® Powered Notebooks Will Turn Into Bricks When Stolen!
PROP001 Interactive Panel on Benefits of Intel® Anti-theft Technology (Intel® AT)
PROP002 Deploying and Managing Intel® vPro™ Technology in Enterprise Environments
PROL001-002 Extreme Programming with Intel® vPro™ Technology: Pushing the Limits with Innovative Software
PROQ001 Intel® vPro™ Technology Deployment Best Practices in Enterprise Environments
Additional info in the Intel® vPro ™ Technology community – Showcase, 1st floor
Book on topic: Active Platform Management Demystified: Unleashing the Power of Intel® vPro™ Technology (Intel Press)

September 23rd - 4-5PM PST we are going to do a tweetup for vPro, SCCM SP2 & Win7.   I'll post out the hashtag shortly and details so you can join us either @ IDF or online.

Anand Pashupathy (left) and Mojtaba Mirashrafi developed an idea for an anti-theft service for laptops into a shipped product in just 12 months.

Great article about their startup and a little about Mr. USB.

http://www.oregonbusiness.com/articles/69-september-2009/2159-on-the-edge