Intel is an industry leader in the CPU market and is one of the earliest adopters of the X86 CPU architecture. The company has been producing one of the best processors since it was founded in 1968 by Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce.
As technology gets better and better every day, companies are using some terms that may seem complex to the common user. If you have gone lately to a computer store to get yourself a new PC, chances are you came across the term vPro.
In this article, we are going to cover what vPro is, how it works and some of its advantages that may be of interest to you. We are also going to discuss why this platform is targeted and favors business and corporate individuals.
What is Intel vPro and how does it work?
Intel vPro is a specific platform incorporated into certain intel PCs for improved performance, security, manageability, and stability. Essentially, this platform is founded on the basis of easier manageability, improved performance, enhanced security, and a more stable user experience so that you can focus more on productivity.
This technology is baked and built in your hardware rather than just being software-based. It is embedded on the processor, the network adapter, and the chipset for seamless communication amongst themselves whether the system is powered on or off. Being hardwired and baked in to your hardware it is more easier for your corporation to fix bugs and send critical updates regardless of whether your machine is on or off.
In contrast if your machine does not have vPro some of these features such as automatic updates and bug fixes have to be done manually, more so when the PC is on. I am not trying to insinuate that it is a must have, but you gotta admit some of the features it offers are cool.
Why is it targeted towards business and corporate individuals ?
Well, as we discussed earlier, this technology is founded the basis of improved performance, Enhanced security and a more stable user experience. Business people are often very busy and most of them are not tech savvy hence automatic updates to improve on performance and security has proven to save a lot of time and money which would have otherwise been used in repair shops and customer services which would not even guarantee that their problems will be fixed.The vPro technology is by no means new as it has been around for over ten years since 2006.
Time for a short story……
Before the pandemic happened many of us, the IT technicians, used to come to a cooperation and update the Company’s computers and PCs manually. But when the pandemic happened it proved very difficult to even move due to lockdown restrictions hence it was a lot harder to fix and update our clients’ PCs. Intel vPro really proved to be a ‘savior’ in this situation. Remote updates were done over the air regardless whether the PC was on or off. This simple but crucial technology saved us a lot of hassle leaving our clients’ happy.
According to a research done, it was noted that employees loose about a work day each year due to slow and laggy PCs which leads them to be 12% less productive and this may cost an individual over $7000 per year.
Benefits of having a vPro enabled machine
1. Performance
When you acquire a vPro enabled machine downtimes are minimized through updates hence boosting productivity and performance. Apart from that, Intel also assures you that with the latest 11th Gen Intel Core Vpro PCs you should expect a 72% performance increase as compared to older PCs.
In addition to that, users should experience a 41% faster office productivity during video conferencing. To make the deal even sweeter the newer Intel Core Vpro machines come equipped with thunderbolt 4 and also WI-Fi 6 for faster connectivity.
2. Security
During a conducted analysis it was noted that over 50% of crucial company files are stored in unprotected PCs. This poses a great risk as when a bug enters the system it can cause a lot of damage, leading to downtime and reduced productivity.
Intel vPro comes with inbuilt software such as the Intel Hardware Shield which offers protection against threats including firewall-level attacks. In addition to that, it comes with Intel Active Management technology which gives IT specialists remote access in order to update the system and fix bugs. This means that even if your device is out of band, critical security patches can be sent remotely hence avoiding unnecessary hassles.
3. PC stability
Stability is one of the key features of the vPro platform. It is normally very hard even for software professionals to release an update which can guarantee stability. Sometimes the PCs crashes leading to other problems such as the infamous Blue Screen Of death.
Intel Stable IT platform program, is part of the Intel vPro platform whose main aim is to ensure no hardware change for at least 15 months or at least until the next generation of hardware is out. Intel closely works with manufactures to put those business class PCs through extreme tests on the chipset, graphics components, processor and network components to ensure both at most stability and security.
Should you get a vPro enabled machine?
Well, this mainly depends on the company that you work for or one that you manage. Company’s with even fewer than a thousand employees can take advantage of this platform. Further more vPro enabled machines work well when there is an IT management group to manage and update those PCs regularly.
If you are the head of a company you can as well try it out for you and your employees and gauge on the convenience that it offers. Well, I hope that this article has shed some light and answered some of the burning questions that you had on the Vpro platform.
A lesson worth learning. Thank you!
Good insight
Love the content
If not too costly I’ll love to own one someday…