SMB Talk

Remote PC Assist Technology & AT&T

josh.hilliker@intel.com — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 20:27:32 GMT

One of the key announcements that came out during IDF was AT&T Tech Support 360 supporting vPro & specifically the Remote PC Assist Technology. Here's David Tuhy explaining.

Enhanced Remote PC Support for Small and Midsize Businesses

scott.allee@intel.com — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 21:18:35 GMT

I’ve worked for a number of startups. Was “Marketing Director/Office Manager/HR” (lot of slashes in small business) for a software startup; a great experience but certainly fewer resources (compared to what I have now) to turn to for help. Still, doing so many different things, every day, was one of the best aspects of working for a small business.

Best aspects of working at Intel? Near the top: Intel tech support. If my PC has a problem I can’t solve myself, I call somebody and it’s fixed. In minutes. Day or night, 365 days a year, from anywhere in the world. I hit speed dial and someone from somewhere is answering my questions or remotely controlling and repairing my PC. I’d give up my dental plan before I’d give up this little perk.

I didn’t have that luxury during my startup days, but a new announcement from AT&T and Intel should bring that kind of support to more small businesses than ever before. Last fall, AT&T launched a service called AT&T Tech Support 360^SM-- remote 24/7 support including setup, configuration, troubleshooting and performance optimization for PCs, networks and more. They obviously addressed a need, as over 100,000 small and medium business customers have signed up. Now they’ve announced support for Intel® vPro™ Technology (starting first half of 2010) including the Intel® Remote PC Assist Technology (Intel® RPAT) feature.

With Intel RPAT, a small business (using Intel vPro Technology-based PCs) having PC problems can enter a keystroke sequence on a failed computer and directly connect the failed PC to their Managed Service Provider (MSP) or IT Helpdesk, such as AT&T Tech Support 360 technicians, even when the PCs has had a hardware or OS failure, or has been corrupted by a virus or malware. That means support for a whole new class of tech problems, and I’m talking about the nasty ones that get down deep into the PC: BIOS issues, damaged internet connections, system password resets and the toughest viruses and malware to name a few.

I’m excited to be part of a solution that enables my small business customers and friends to experience the kind of PC tech support I enjoy in my 80,000+ person company – hopefully it means you can remove one of the “slashes” from your daily tasks. Check out the AT&T and Intel press release for more information, or comment here with any questions I can help answer.

Intel® IT Director 1.5 Flash Demo is avaliable now!

jason.j.he@intel.com — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 06:09:59 GMT

Have you tried Intel® IT Director 1.5? How do you think of Intel® IT Director 1.5? If you have not tried it and want a glance on how the application is configured, how to do AMT provision and how Intel® IT Director 1.5 is monitoring the security software, here the Flash Demo you can look, very easy, just click the demo file in our support site!

http://support.intel.com/support/vpro/itdirector/sb/CS-030558.htm

How does the Intel® Upgrade Service Work?

corey.t.morris@intel.com — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 06:51:25 GMT

The Intel® Upgrade Service is a "Down-the-wire" hardware upgrade that allows users to be able to "upgrade" their system based on a series of available upgrades. For more information, this diagram below is throughly explained on this site: http://www.intel.com/technology/product/ius/howitworks.htm?iid=ius_prodtech+howitworks

New Intel® Upgrade Service Level III Manageability Upgrade!!!

corey.t.morris@intel.com — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 06:41:52 GMT

Intel® Upgrade Service is now offering a Level III Manageability Upgrade for desktop PCs featuring the Intel® B43 Express Chipset, consisting of Intel® Standard Manageability, Fast Call For Help, and Intel® Remote PC Assist Technology. The included technologies in detail:

Asset inventory, HW alerting, SOL/IDE-R, remote configuration, agent presence, and system defense plus:

DASH 1.0 compliance for support of industry standards. Support for profile updates.
Measured Intel® Active Management Technology (Intel® AMT) allows Intel® AMT to be part of trusted platform
Host VPN* gives support for local management VPN tunneling
Fast access to fix PC problems inside or outside the firewall
Remote scheduled maintenance allowing IT to pre-schedule when a PC connects for maintenance
Automatic remote alerts so IT is aware when computer issues arise

How to contact Intel for Intel® IT Director support?

jason.j.he@intel.com — Fri, 22 May 2009 06:54:09 GMT

Have you tried Intel® IT Director 1.5? Could you share some experience you have with Intel® IT Director 1.5? If you want to contact Intel Customer Support for more information of Intel® IT Director, please send email to us:

http://supportmail.intel.com/Welcome.aspx?id=42,2262,3049

Or contact our worldwide contact center to talk with an Intel® IT Director expert:

http://support.intel.com/support/9089.htm

Intel® IT Director v1.5 - New Release!!!

corey.t.morris@intel.com — Tue, 19 May 2009 20:41:22 GMT

Intel^® IT Director v1.5 Release

We are pleased to announce the release of IT Director v1.5. The release is available for download at: IT Director Download

We would like to hear your feedback! Use the "Discussions" tab within this community and post your comments about the Intel IT Director version 1.5!

Key enhancements over v1.1 are:

Intel® AMT and standard manageability detection and provisioning
Security Monitoring (agent presence)
New usability enhancements
IT Director supports multiple chipsets. IT Director will install and function on the following chipsets:
- Intel® Q45, Q43, Q35, G41 or B43(upgraded) Express Chipsets

New to IT Director?

Watch a quick animation demo of IT Director, an intuitive and easy to use Small Business application, at IT Director Website

Intel® Upgrade Service - Intel® Anti-Theft Technology (AT-p) enrollments available...

corey.t.morris@intel.com — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 21:59:52 GMT

The Intel® Upgrade Service provides a variety of different upgrades/enrollments based on what you have for your platform and configuration. One of the latest enrollments is the Intel® Anti-Theft Technology PC Protection Services or otherwise called AT-p.

Where can I get it? - http://absolute.com/products-intel.asp (Currently on Lenovo* T400 has AT-p capability)

Here is a great place to learn more about AT-p thanks to Joshprostar - http://communities.intel.com/docs/DOC-2384

Enjoy!

Corey

Interested in Intel® RPAT? Intel® Remote PC Assist Technology – enables you to make a fast call for help and request remote technical assistance…

corey.t.morris@intel.com — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 21:31:50 GMT

About Intel® RPAT – Also found at the following site: http://www.intel.com/technology/product/remotepcassist.htm

Intel® Remote PC Assist Technology enables you to make a fast call for help and request remote technical assistance from a service provider if you encounter a problem with your PC, even when the OS, network software, or applications are not functioning. Available starting in late 2008, Intel Remote PC Assist Technology will be an option on PCs with Intel® Core™2 processor with vPro™ technology using the Intel® Q45 Express Chipset and will expand to consumer PCs in 2009.

If you are interested in our Early Access Program (EAP), please please post any questions/comments to this blog post and we will be happy to assist!

Regards,

CoreySMBPro

Learn more about the Intel® Upgrade Service – down-the-wire hardware upgrades after a system's been purchased!

corey.t.morris@intel.com — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 21:01:44 GMT

Intel® Upgrade Service enables down-the-wire hardware upgrades after a system's been purchased, providing new levels of platform flexibility to service providers and end users alike. With the purchase of a PC with qualifying CPU and upgradeable chipset, you'll get future-ready flexibility designed to change with your growing needs.

Visit the main web site at: http://www.intel.com/go/intelupgradeservice/

Currently we have a Level I Manageability Upgrade available which is designed to bring a platform from “Standard Manageability” to “Intel® Active Management Technology (AMT) 5.0”.

Questions?

What are the minimum system requirements?

Intel® Q45 Express Chipsetbased motherboard with a non-Intel® vPro™ Technology Processor attached. Upgrades will not be supported for platforms based on Intel® Celeron® processors.

Where to buy hardware and/or upgrades?

Click here to learn how to buy hardware and/or upgrades!

Please post any questions/comments to this blog post and we will be happy to assist!

Regards,

CoreySMBPro

New Intel® IT Director Wiki site created!!!

corey.t.morris@intel.com — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 19:05:44 GMT

All,

Please take a peek at the new Intel IT Director Wiki site... it is only the beginning, but we will be updating content quickly to assist our customers!!! Please check back often and feel free to start a discussion on any questions related to Intel IT Director!

Link provided here as well: http://communities.intel.com/docs/DOC-2675

Regards,

Corey T. Morris

Intel® AMT: What you need to know about SOL/IDE-R and SMB

corey.t.morris@intel.com — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 19:34:47 GMT

All,

Wanted to share a great post by Gael Holmes (Intel) who recently posted in the Intel® vPro™ Expert Center . See the original post here: http://software.intel.com/en-us/blogs/2009/02/19/intel-amt-what-you-need-to-know-about-solide-r-and-smb/ also a copy provided below...

We recently made available to our Intel AMT Developers the first version of the SCS (Setup and Configuration Server) Lite tool. Eventually this tool will morph into a full blown setup and configuration server that supports all the infrastructure that SCS 5.0 now supports. This "Lite" version, however, is very "Lite" as the name implies. It does not require (or support) SQL database, AD, TLS. It, instead supports one touch and remote provisioning using the SCS Service, the SCS Console, and the Activator tool. This tool currently provisions an Intel AMT Client in "Enterprise Mode" without TLS.

Many developers, or users, may have been provisioning their systems in what we call SMB (Small to Medium Business) mode manually and then they may decide to try out the new SCS Lite tool and realize suddenly they can no longer do a SOL/IDE-R (Serial Over LAN/IDE-Redirect) operation on the same AMT Client they did this on prior to provisioning with the SCS Lite Tool.

What is going on here is simple. When we provision our AMT systems manually (SMB mode) we enable SOL and IDER options in the MEBx BIOS extentions (otherwise there will be no SOL/IDE-R actions) and the Redirection port gets enabled automatically. This is not the case when provisioning in Enterprise mode (because it is a security issue to enable the port and leave it open.) Software vendors who provision their systems in Enterprise Mode (whether or not they have TLS) know that their software must open the port in order to have a successful SOL/IDER session and then they are expected to close the port when the session is over.

If someone is running a Manageability Application that was designed to work on AMT systems that were provisioned in SMB mode, but now they have been re-provisioned in Enterprise Mode, the Manageability APP may not open the port and so SOL/IDER will not work unless the redirection port is enabled.

This Screen Shot (From the Manageability DTK) shows what is enabled on an AMT Client after provisioning with the SCS Lite, or other Enterprise provisioning tool. Note that "Redirection Port" is Disabled. Simply click on the box next to "Disabled" and this will allow SOL/IDER sessions to occur.

This Screen Shot shows the SOL/IDER settings that occur automatically when the AMT Client is provisioned using SMB Mode - Note that the Redirection Port is automatically enabled and the AMT system is free to perform SOL/IDER sessions.

Note that whether the system is being provisioned in SMB mode or in Enterprise Mode we still must enable SOL and IDER in the MEBx Extensions. If we fail to enable them in the BIOS or in our Profile (for the SCS) then we cannot perform SOL/IDER at all - and this has nothing to do with the enabling or disabling of the Redirection Port.

Moving forward it will be necessary for all Manageability Apps to check the status of the Redirection Port and then open the port prior to initiating the SOL/IDER session (and then close the port when the session is complete.) By putting this flow into your code base, you are covered when communicating with the devices that are configured in either SMB or enterprise mode.

These are the API's of interest in this flow:

SetEnabledInterfaces - Make sure SOL and IDE-R are set as enabled interfaces
GetRedirectionListenerState - Gets the current redirection listener status
SetRedirectionListenerState - Set the redirection listener state to enabled if not already enabled.

Feet on the Street - vPro Series - Meet Teri McFaul

josh.hilliker@intel.com — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 21:17:22 GMT

Feet on the Street series continues with a 1:1 w/ Teri McFaul. Hear what Teri does for Intel & vPro.

Feet on the Street - Matt Royer (Microsoft vPro Guru)

Feet on the Street - vPro Series - Meet Wendy West

Feet on the Street - It's time to talk with Gregory Bryant

Feet on the Street - vPro Series - Meet Jake G. - Part I

Looking for SMB manageability software for your Intel® vPro™ processor technology?

corey.t.morris@intel.com — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 19:05:38 GMT

Intel® System Defense Utility is an easy to use tool for small and medium businesses to take advantage of valuable proactive security and manageability features of Intel® vPro™ processor technology. Combined with systems built on Intel® Desktop Boards Executive Series, this tool lets you unleash the power of proactive management in your local network.

It enables you to remotely perform security and manageability functions such as setting security policies, BIOS configuration, remote reboot, asset management, event logging, and more.

Click here for a demo!

Intel System Defense Utility may be used with the Intel® Desktop Boards based on:

· Intel® Q965 Express Chipset

· Intel® Q45 Express Chipset

· Intel® Q35 Express Chipset

For more information: http://www.intel.com/design/motherbd/software/isdu/index.htm

“Yes we can!” - SCS 6.0 now reaches the SMBs!

corey.t.morris@intel.com — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 22:22:15 GMT

“Yes we can!” - SCS 6.0 now reaches the SMBs

Overview

When we first got back to the drawing board and thought about new SCS Architecture, for SCS6.0, we had several things in mind.

It was clear that the existing provisioning flow (end to end) had to be simplified – Feedbacks from the field, showed that the required IT setup and configuration interaction required steep vPro specific learning curve, even before the actual provisioning process that happens through the SCS tool.

We also realized that in order to improve the ISV integration we had to listen to Key ISVs’ trends. Some of them requested the ability to configure vPro from the local host while others - SMB/MSP ISVs had different needs.

Interoperability and scalability were also 2 focus items when we started the new design.

The plan was to hit the road with a new agile development methodology – SCRUM.

In parallel, we decided to break the setup and configuration logic into different components that ISVs can use as their building blocks.

This new architecture allows ISVs greater flexibility in order to provide a more integrated solution that will be easier to use by IT administrators, or on the other hand, can be used by small scale ISV who are not interested to deal with provisioning as part of their offering.

Let the SCRUM begin!

SCRUM is defined as agile development process that allows teams to deliver usable software periodically throughout the life of the project, absorbing change and new requirements as the project proceeds.

Working agile for us, meant being able to divide the SCS deliverables into short iterations (“sprints” ) and by the end of each sprint be able to provide “potentially shippable” product - Something that can be actually used by the customers.

This way, in an incremental effort, we are sharing more features and high quality releases on a regular basis.

This is how the SMB requirements started floating around. First, through several email threads and then, after the team looked at the requests, they all said: “Yes we can!”

In an effort to reduce the number of tools trying to solve similar problems to the customers, and in reality only adding to the confusion, we defined the following milestones for SCS6.0:

• Release #1 – Q1’09 (ww03’09) - SCS 6 Technology Preview #1 - SMB Provisioning

• Release #2 – Q2’09 (ww15’09) - SCS 6 Technology Preview #2 - Enterprise Provisioning

• Release #3 – Q3’09 (ww32’09) - SCS 6 Technology Preview #3 - Maintenance, Installer and improvements

• Release #4 - Q4’09 (ww45’09) - SCS 6.0 Final - AMT6 Features Support

The Lightweight provisioning and the SMB provisioning story

The recent technology preview provides a lightweight solution aimed for small and medium business (SMB) customers. In the spirit of the SCS 6.0 approach, pre-requisites were reduced to minimum: No DB is needed (XML based solution is the alternative), No configuration is needed - Profile is ready. It can be installed on any windows based host, No prerequisites from the “server” and … Low footprint on the host system.

In only 3 simple steps, that take only few minutes, the user can now configure the machine (with or without PSK).

All that is required is:

• User step 1: IT installs SCS 6.0 LW with default profile out of the box

• User step 2: IT buys RCFG certificate

• User step 3: IT remotely distribute host based Activator (Through existing Management consoles that are out there already, in the organization)

Or … with PSK:

• User step 1: IT installs SCS 6.0 LW with default profile out of the box

• User step 2: IT remotely distribute host based activator

• User step 3: IT admin creates USB file containing PSK/PID pair to be consumed by the Intel® AMT (One touch end-user restart is required)

Lastly, there is also an option to do Local USB key configuration through the Activator’s GUI in SCS 6.0. This manual configuration takes 2 steps:

• User step 1: User insert USB key containing GUI Activator SCS 6.0 application

• SCS Activator Determine Local AMT State

• SCS Activator creates setup.bin file containing all information needed to configure the system (using user input regarding password and information if no DHCP is present)

• SCS Activator formats the USB key then copies both setup.bin file and the Activator application to the disk again.

• User Step 2: USB Key – Reboot & Approve

• End User Shut Down Applications and Reboot PC

• End User “Approve” BIOS AMT Provisioning Process

Under the hood

For those interested to know what’s going on under the hood, the new SCS6.0 technology preview #1 contains 3 elements:

• AMT Configuration Server Service — A Windows service (known as the SCS service) performs the steps required to make an Intel AMT system operational. (This includes Intel AMT Release 2.0 and later releases.) The configuration is determined by a configuration profile stored in an xml file. The SCS service exposes a WMI interface for managing the configuration file, creating and importing USB keys and performing configurations (see the MOF API section for details on the interface). The SCS service writes log messages to a file.

• Intel® vPro™ Technology Activator Utility — This application runs on an Intel® AMT system. It performs a diagnosis of the current state of the Intel AMT system and triggers the SCS (via its WMI interface) to perform configuration or unconfiguration.

• SCS Console — A GUI application for managing the SCS configuration profiles and creating and importing USB keys via the SCS WMI interface.

The new technology will be demonstrated in 2009 ISMC, but you also have the ability to download it and experience it yourself. The ease of use of the Intel® AMT Setup and Configuration Service (SCS) 6.0 first Technology Preview can be checked here:

http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/download-the-intel-AMT-SCS-technology-preview/

See also a simple demo that shows the usage of this release using the link above listed under "Additional Information": Sprint 5 Demo