What Is the Intel vPro® Platform?

A PC platform built for business and designed for performance, security, manageability, and stability.

The Intel vPro® Platform Is Built for Business:

  • The Intel vPro® platform is an integrated, validated platform with built-in features for performance, security, manageability, and stability.

  • You’ll get a PC that delivers business-class performance, hardware-enhanced security features with Intel® Hardware Shield, and PC fleet stability right out of the box.

  • Additional features, such as Intel® Active Management Technology (Intel® AMT) for remote management, require activation and IT administration.

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When you choose the Intel vPro® platform, you’re getting everything your business needs to thrive. This integrated platform has the latest PC technologies designed into one validated solution built to provide what IT needs and employees want. Ideal for businesses of all sizes, devices built on the Intel vPro® platform have features that start delivering value right away.1 2 3 4

If you’ve been shopping for business PCs, you may have noticed that some devices on the market are built on the Intel vPro® platform. But what is the Intel vPro® platform?

This integrated, business-class PC platform offers an exciting set of hardware-based features. These range from remote management capabilities to Wi-Fi 6 to long battery life. But the platform is greater than the sum of its parts. It was designed to deliver business benefits across four major areas of computing: performance, security, manageability, and stability.

Most Intel vPro® platform features, like hardware-enhanced security features, work and deliver value right out of the box. Others, such as Intel® Active Management Technology (Intel® AMT) for remote manageability, require activation.

While you can find plenty of laptops, workstations, mini PCs, 2-in-1s, and all in ones on the platform, it supports much more than PCs. Today, the Intel vPro® platform powers a broad range of devices, including digital signage, interactive kiosks, industrial equipment, and collaboration solutions. This makes it possible to bring the benefits of the Intel vPro® platform to more parts of your business using the same tools.

Which Businesses Should Consider the Intel vPro® Platform?

Any business of any size can see benefits when they choose devices built on the Intel vPro® platform. From small businesses to enterprises with managed IT environments, all businesses will get an enhanced feature set that delivers value from day one, with no configuration needed.

What you get without activation: Business-class performance to power productivity, analyze data fast, simplify connectivity, and extend battery life. You’ll also get hardware-enhanced security features with technologies to help protect against cyberthreats, plus platform stability.
Harness the full feature set with activation: Your IT team or managed service provider can make the most of the Intel vPro® platform by activating and configuring devices. This provides access to remote management capabilities, including out-of-band management, with Intel® Active Management Technology.

In short, if you need a PC for business, the Intel vPro® platform is a smart choice.

Employees lose up to a workday each year just waiting for their three-plus-year-old computer to boot up.5

Benefits of the Intel vPro® Platform

Businesses have countless options when it comes to selecting PCs and choosing devices that are designed to support productivity can offer a real advantage. The Intel vPro® platform combines key technologies to enable IT to deliver:

  • Business-class performance to help employees get the most out of the workday.
  • Hardware-enhanced security features to help IT respond to threats before, during, and after an attack.
  • Modern manageability and stability to help IT minimize disruptions and reduce support costs.

The platform is optimized for managed IT environments and enables application of corporate policies. However, it can add value to businesses of all sizes. It’s continually evolving, with new capabilities added based on the real-world needs of employees, IT, and business decision-makers. This provides a scalable, reliable foundation for the future, helping you get the most from your investment and focus on your other strategic priorities.

But what does the Intel vPro® platform do, exactly? Let’s explore some of its most compelling features.

Business PC Performance

With today’s demanding workloads, PC performance is a must-have. Employees lose up to a workday each year just waiting for their three-plus-year-old computer to boot up5 and are up to 12 percent less productive on PCs that are three or more years old. This leads to a potential estimated cost of USD 7,794 per year, per user.6

The Intel vPro® platform delivers business-class performance to power workforce productivity.

  • A new PC with the 11th Gen Intel® Core™ vPro® delivers up to 27% faster productivity with Office 3657 and up to 52% better Microsoft Office performance8 compared to a three-year-old PC. This helps keep workers more productive and in the flow.
  • Users can experience 41% faster office productivity during a video conference call.9 That means employees stay more productive while collaborating.
  • Employees can leave the power cord behind with long battery life to help ensure a productive workday.

Devices built on the Intel vPro® platform also have support for Wi-Fi 6 for next-generation wireless performance and Thunderbolt™ 4 technology for simplified connectivity.

Hardware-Based Security Features

Rampant cybersecurity threats combined with multiple points of vulnerability make security a top-of-mind business priority. PCs are crucial to IT security. On average, 50 percent of critical corporate data resides on unprotected desktops and laptops.10 Threats can enter an organization through any computer and spread rapidly, resulting in workforce downtime and lost productivity.

Security decisions start at the PC. The Intel vPro® platform is architected to provide innovative hardware-based security features that help minimize the risks associated with security threats.

Part of the Intel vPro® platform, Intel® Hardware Shield provides enhanced protections against attacks below the OS and advanced threat detection capabilities for increased platform security. Intel® Hardware Shield helps reduce the attack surface to protect against damaging firmware-level attacks, while offloading routine security functions for lower user impact and continued productivity.

Additionally, remote management with Intel® Active Management Technology allows IT administrators to remotely remediate and recover an infected device, even if it’s out of band. Administrators can also push patches for critical security updates.

Remote Management Features

Ubiquitous mobility, the mix of device types, data-intensive applications—these are only some of the factors making managing PCs more time consuming and costly. A well-maintained PC is also a more secure PC, which is vital given increasing demand for connectivity and the associated cybersecurity risks. Having the right devices impacts the bottom line.

The Intel vPro® platform offers powerful remote management via Intel® Active Management Technology. These tools include keyboard-video-mouse (KVM) over IP, remote power control, hardware alarm clock, boot redirection, and more. With out of band management, IT can better manage and repair PCs—even when the device is powered off or the OS is unresponsive. These capabilities are especially useful for devices mounted in hard-to-reach places, industrial PCs in hazardous environments, or retail point of sale systems that are turned off at the end of the day.

With remote management, businesses may save on deskside support, reduce truck rolls, and promote overall IT efficiency. They may also improve user experiences, reduce downtime, and support enterprise mobility.

Platform Stability and Stable PC Imaging Features

Managing a PC fleet has become more complex due to the sheer volume of software updates and driver incompatibilities. Stable, validated hardware enables smoother fleet management and business continuity.

The Intel vPro® platform delivers the latest PC platform technologies in one integrated and validated solution. This gives IT and end users the stability and reliability of a true business-class device. Intel works with device manufacturers to ensure companies can buy the same PC SKUs, globally, for 12+ months with accompanying product support. Furthermore, Intel vPro® platform architects work closely with device manufacturers to rigorously test a comprehensive list of business-class Intel® components. Components include processors, graphics, chipsets, and networking. As a result, you’ll get outstanding quality, IT reliability, and compatibility.

The Intel® Stable IT Platform Program (Intel® SIPP), a part of the Intel vPro® platform, features an extensive validation program that aims for no hardware changes throughout the buying cycle, for at least 15 months or until the next generational release. Fewer hardware changes mean fewer hassles and interruptions for users, resulting in a more seamless overall experience—especially for PC setup and configuration and PC image deployment. In addition, Intel validates multiple versions of Windows* 10 on any given generation of the platform. This helps businesses better manage OS transitions and take advantage of extended support from Microsoft for any given OS release.

Types of Intel vPro® Processors

With a broad range of Intel vPro® processors to choose from, you can address your business needs for power optimization, graphics performance, memory, form factor, and more. You can find multiple generations of select Intel® Core™ vPro® processors and Intel® Xeon® processors as part of the Intel vPro® platform.

How to Get Started with the Intel vPro® Platform

When shopping for new business PCs or embedded solutions, look for the Intel vPro® platform and the Intel® Core™ vPro® processor badge. Talk to your technology provider or managed service provider about which devices are the best fit for your business.

While you can start taking advantage of most platform features right away, you can get the full benefits of the platform with the activation of remote management capabilities. Intel provides documentation and support to help simplify this process, so you can get amazing results.

Learn More About the Intel vPro® Platform

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Intel vPro® Platform FAQ

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Product and Performance Information

1

Intel® technologies' features and benefits depend on system configuration and may require enabled hardware, software or service activation. Performance varies depending on system configuration. No product or component can be absolutely secure. Check with your system manufacturer or retailer or learn more at https://www.intel.com.

2

Your costs and results may vary.

3

Intel does not control or audit third-party data. You should consult other sources to evaluate accuracy.

4

Results have been estimated or simulated.

5

“Employees lose a workday each year just waiting for their computer to boot up” is based on a 2018 web-based survey, commissioned by Intel and conducted by J.Gold Associates, LLC, of 3,297 respondents from small businesses in 16 countries (Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, UAE, UK, USA), to assess the challenges and costs associated with deploying older PCs. Assuming one start-up per day and using an average start-up time that was calculated by taking the midpoint of the time survey respondents estimated it takes to start up a PC that is more than four years old, employees were estimated to spend up to eight hours a year starting up a three-year-old PC (2.90 minutes start-up x 1 start-up per work day x 5 days a week x 52 weeks a year / 60 (to get hours) x utilization rate of .67 = 8.46 hours per year). To review this statistic and the full report, visit intel.com/SMEStudy. Your costs and results may vary.

6

“Employees are 12 percent less productive on PCs that are 3+ years old, resulting in an estimated cost of USD 7,794 per year, per user” is based on a 2018 web-based survey, commissioned by Intel and conducted by J.Gold Associates, LLC, of 3,297 respondents from small businesses in 16 countries (Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, UAE, UK, USA), to assess the challenges and costs associated with deploying older PCs. Survey respondents estimated that for PCs more than three years old, employees would be up to 12.99 percent less productive—based on an average assumed employee’s salary of USD 60,000, the lost productivity cost will amount to USD 7,794. To review this statistic and the full report, visit intel.com/SMEStudy. Your costs and results may vary.

7

As measured by Microsoft Office 365 workflow 11th Gen Intel® Core™ vPro® i7-1185G7 Processor vs. 8th Gen Intel® Core™ vPro® i7-8650U Processor.

8

As measured by PC Mark 10 Application overall score 11th Gen Intel® Core™ vPro® i7-1185G7 Processor vs. 8th Gen Intel® Core™ vPro® i7-8650U Processor.

9

As measured by Productivity and Collaboration Workflow. 11th Gen Intel® Core™ vPro® i7-1185G7 Processor vs. 8th Gen Intel® Core™ vPro® i7-8650U Processor.

10

SOZO Technologies, 2016, sozo.tech/is-your-company-data-safe/.