I am sure you are all aware of the benefits of adopting the embedded manageability features in vPro. What has SCS got to do with that and why do we need SCS?
Can you buy a home theater, plug in the power and expect it to work with all your other media devices? Can you buy a wireless router, switch it on and expect a home network to work without configuring? No.
Similarly, in order to reap the benefits of the embedded manageability features in vPro, we need to set it up and configure it appropriately. Setup and Configuration services (SCS) provide the means to setup and configure vPro systems. Some of the abilities that SCS provides include
- - Ability to integrate with identity management systems such as Active Directory
- - Ability to request the CA for a certificate on behalf of the vPro system
- - Ability to push wireless profiles on to the vPro system for wireless manageability
- - Method to push configuration settings to a bulk of vPro systems
- - Maintenance operations such as renewal of certificates, re-provisioning systems if hostname changes
Currently SCS is integrated as part of an ISV's management console. With vPro spanning across domains such as Asset management, Remote Support, Security, Patching and Compliance, are we looking at a single management console? If we have different management consoles for different domains, how do we ensure that the vPro systems are setup and configured once and all management consoles can operate with vPro? Who provisions, who maintains, who talks to who in order to make efficient use of vPro in a multi-management console eco system? In order to allow effective inter-operability between the management consoles, are we looking at a "unified provisioning application" for all the technologies that Intel supports on a vPro system?
Let me know your thoughts...