Evolutions In Agile Working AMA, Sponsored by Intel vPro

[glkelly]

How do the Remote Management tasks overlap or interact with common admin tasks I might want to perform in a Windows environment? e.g. when offboarding a user I may wish to reset the PC to its factory state, which would certainly delete any VNC or similar client I might have naively been using to initiate the process, so if performing that remotely I wouldn't be able to track it to completion. [I'm not asking this from experience!]
Also in a Windows domain, where the server tracks all of the domain PCs and users, can Intel vPro leverage that knowledge (or vice-versa)?

Intel Endpoint Management Assistant (Intel EMA) and vPro technologies (AMT) can help with that very scenario: how do I know that the PC has been reset? Intel EMA provides management of vPro endpoint devices both in-band (in the OS) and out-of-band. You could initiate the reset and then use out-of-band, hardware KVM functions to monitor the progress of the reset and even set the device up again.

We have some features coming that will enhance this process even more.

Intel EMA overview:
https://www.intel.com/content/www/u...ology/remote-manageability-for-workforce.html

 

[StuDommett]

What would you say is the biggest innovation or change you've seen since you started your career?

For me it's cloud based storage, which has become so normal we've forgotten there was a time it wasn't there. Do you think there's another game changer like this that is so simple it'll become standard?

Given that I started on punch cards programming JCL... and if you guys don't have a clue what I am talking about then look it up on what I think has been the biggest change.. the internet, probably from your laptop or phone 👴

 

[ERyan]

That isn't something I'd ever really thought about and makes so much sense. Starfleet uniforms might not be mandatory, but definitely encouraged.

A big shift has been accessibility, there was a time when IT was considered impenetrable but now people tend to be able to troubleshoot a lot of their own issues as tech has become part of our daily lives. Security is such a massive part of that and the end user bears a burden of responsibility for it, is educating the workforce as much of a challenge as building secure systems and how intertwined are the two?

Yes, educating the workforce is definitely a challenge. Cyber/Security Awareness should always be an integral part of a company’s security program. End-User security awareness is even more important with the increase in remote workforce as their behaviors can create an unintended breach or allow unauthorized access to corporate data. A security-first culture in a company will provide another layer of protection along with the secure systems.

 

[BucksTitan]

How has the pandemic shaped the way you develop products – and what are the future threats you are preparing for?

 

[DanB - Intel]

How do the Remote Management tasks overlap or interact with common admin tasks I might want to perform in a Windows environment? e.g. when offboarding a user I may wish to reset the PC to its factory state, which would certainly delete any VNC or similar client I might have naively been using to initiate the process, so if performing that remotely I wouldn't be able to track it to completion. [I'm not asking this from experience!]
Also in a Windows domain, where the server tracks all of the domain PCs and users, can Intel vPro leverage that knowledge (or vice-versa)?

We have a few capabilities on the Intel vPro platform meant to help in this situation based on Intel Active Management Technology (Intel AMT). Intel AMT gives you hardware remote control, like you get with VNC, that works independent of the OS, allowing you you to perform tasks like a Windows reset and not get disconnected. Intel AMT comes on every Intel vPro platform and does requires some setup/activation on the device along and software to use it. Intel Endpoint Management Assistant (Intel EMA) can be used to both set up and use Intel AMT.

 

[StuDommett]

How has the pandemic shaped the way you develop products – and what are the future threats you are preparing for?

One example is where we do a lot of research into human behavior. For example how people interact in meetings.. for example when we are FTF we look at body language, we know when someone is enjoying what we are saying, they might laugh at a joke or smile or nod. How does this work with remote working, with cameras etc... so we now look at the use of AI to help the interaction be more like what we are used to.
Whilst on the subject of remote working, think about our meeting etiquette, everything is changing, so now technology has a more and more important part to play in ensuring people feel connected to work culture, the need for more intelligent and better equipped devices is key and the on-going development of hardware enabled technologies providing new features and capabilities in software is so important. Software needs hardware, so threat detection, threat protection and security overall is a key part of the whole stack from chip to cloud was a recent quote.

 

[BucksTitan]

One example is where we do a lot of research into human behavior. For example how people interact in meetings.. for example when we are FTF we look at body language, we know when someone is enjoying what we are saying, they might laugh at a joke or smile or nod. How does this work with remote working, with cameras etc... so we now look at the use of AI to help the interaction be more like what we are used to.
Whilst on the subject of remote working, think about our meeting etiquette, everything is changing, so now technology has a more and more important part to play in ensuring people feel connected to work culture, the need for more intelligent and better equipped devices is key and the on-going development of hardware enabled technologies providing new features and capabilities in software is so important. Software needs hardware, so threat detection, threat protection and security overall is a key part of the whole stack from chip to cloud was a recent quote.

Has anything unexpected come up when looking at human behaviour that ended up making things more challenging but led to a better outcome?

 

[Chora]

This is kinda unrelated and pretty much personally directed toward DanB.

I read in this Q&A that you took note that Intel employees currently do not get discounts for Alder Lake processors. Are you excited for Alder Lake and do you plan on making an Alder Lake build?

Alder Lake has personally gotten me very enthusiastic about PC building. I pre-ordered an i9-12900K (it came early but I have nothing to do with it) as well as an ASUS ROG STRIX Z690-I motherboard. I won't be building it until late November (as I am waiting for G.Skill to release their flagship DDR5 RAM kits), but I'm going all out this build! I will be doing my first ever custom loop with triple radiators in a Lian Li O11D Mini (it is a challenge I am looking forward to). Oh, and my storage... My first ever PCIe 4.0 SSD! I got the Corsair MP600 Pro XT with 4TB.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I'm very excited, and I was just wondering if you share the same sentiment

 

[StuDommett]

Has anything unexpected come up when looking at human behaviour that ended up making things more challenging but led to a better outcome?

Nothing springs to mind specifically... but one key area where I think we all in IT can think about is changing from KPI's to KEI's... or Key Experience Indicators, so instead of measuring uptime for example, look at measuring the compute experience for the individual. So how long does it take to get things done, impact of connectivity, saving and reading information, what is the overall experience that a user has with a device, this could then be compared across the devices in the fleet and could be used to measure how effective devices are over time and the potential drop off.

 

[StuDommett]

This is kinda unrelated and pretty much personally directed toward DanB.

I read in this Q&A that you took note that Intel employees currently do not get discounts for Alder Lake processors. Are you excited for Alder Lake and do you plan on making an Alder Lake build?

Alder Lake has personally gotten me very enthusiastic about PC building. I pre-ordered an i9-12900K (it came early but I have nothing to do with it) as well as an ASUS ROG STRIX Z690-I motherboard. I won't be building it until late November (as I am waiting for G.Skill to release their flagship DDR5 RAM kits), but I'm going all out this build! I will be doing my first ever custom loop with triple radiators in a Lian Li O11D Mini (it is a challenge I am looking forward to). Oh, and my storage... My first ever PCIe 4.0 SSD! I got the Corsair MP600 Pro XT with 4TB.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I'm very excited, and I was just wondering if you share the same sentiment

Will let Dan answer... but overall yes we are very excited about 12th Gen... interesting report on the i5 12600K in Forbes today.... New Intel Core i5-12600K Vs Ryzen 5 5600X: Which Should You Buy? (forbes.com) this shows benchmarks vs the i9 astounding performance results.

 

[jwai_intc]

How do the Remote Management tasks overlap or interact with common admin tasks I might want to perform in a Windows environment? e.g. when offboarding a user I may wish to reset the PC to its factory state, which would certainly delete any VNC or similar client I might have naively been using to initiate the process, so if performing that remotely I wouldn't be able to track it to completion. [I'm not asking this from experience!]
Also in a Windows domain, where the server tracks all of the domain PCs and users, can Intel vPro leverage that knowledge (or vice-versa)?

In addition to Grant's comment, there is also a Remote Secure Erase feature with Intel vPro PCs. Using Intel EMA and Remote Secure Erase, you can remotely and securely erase all data on the SSD. Because this works out of band, the PCs does need to be turned on. The SSD will be erased if the PC is connected to power and network (LAN or WiFi).

 

[DanB - Intel]

This is kinda unrelated and pretty much personally directed toward DanB.

I read in this Q&A that you took note that Intel employees currently do not get discounts for Alder Lake processors. Are you excited for Alder Lake and do you plan on making an Alder Lake build?

Alder Lake has personally gotten me very enthusiastic about PC building. I pre-ordered an i9-12900K (it came early but I have nothing to do with it) as well as an ASUS ROG STRIX Z690-I motherboard. I won't be building it until late November (as I am waiting for G.Skill to release their flagship DDR5 RAM kits), but I'm going all out this build! I will be doing my first ever custom loop with triple radiators in a Lian Li O11D Mini (it is a challenge I am looking forward to). Oh, and my storage... My first ever PCIe 4.0 SSD! I got the Corsair MP600 Pro XT with 4TB.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I'm very excited, and I was just wondering if you share the same sentiment

I am excited about Alder Lake, glad to see you are too! It's been a few years since I've built a new gaming system so it's defiantly time. The real question is if I will patient enough to wait to get it at a discount or buy it as soon as I am ready to. While gaming isn't a direct part of my job, it's been a passion of mine for as long as I've used computers. It's a good time to be a PC gamer.

 

[jwai_intc]

How has the pandemic shaped the way you develop products – and what are the future threats you are preparing for?

With the Intel vPro platform, we focus on both the experience for IT and the employees (the end users). The pandemic has changed the way and location how employees perform their work, and thus how IT manage the systems. It essentially has a large influence on how we prioritize and build different features in the system. For example, we are building new features and technologies into our product to help improve the collaboration experience when people are working remotely using various collaboration and video conferencing software. We are also looking what new innovations that can help IT to manage those PCs remotely, not only to reduce support cost, but also improve security and end user experience.

 

[jwai_intc]

Thank you for your answer. How has the growth of AI influenced Intel's decision making? Are there things that you're doing now that you wouldn't have considered before?

I cannot say for the entire of Intel. On the client side, AI is definitely seen as a key to improve performance, security and user experience. We have already included AI accelerator in the 11th Intel vPro platform to improve performance of AI workload. In security area, we can use that to help security software to detect ransomeware and cryptoware. In the user experience side, it can be used to more effectively remote background noise in video conference and vendor virtual wallpaper. I believe the importance of AI will continue to grow on the client platform for both IT and end users.

 

[JGlass]

I cannot say for the entire of Intel. On the client side, AI is definitely seen as a key to improve performance, security and user experience. We have already included AI accelerator in the 11th Intel vPro platform to improve performance of AI workload. In security area, we can use that to help security software to detect ransomeware and cryptoware. In the user experience side, it can be used to more effectively remote background noise in video conference and vendor virtual wallpaper. I believe the importance of AI will continue to grow on the client platform for both IT and end users.

Thanks, QOL changes like that tend to just happen so slowly that until you use older stuff you don't know how much has happened. Are there any risks that come with this, could AI Error become as frequent as human error when we try and find where the fault is?

 

[DanB - Intel]

Thanks, QOL changes like that tend to just happen so slowly that until you use older stuff you don't know how much has happened. Are there any risks that come with this, could AI Error become as frequent as human error when we try and find where the fault is?

Hopefully not. AI is an interesting topic, it's just as much a philosophical discussion as it is a technology discussion. At the end of the day, AI is a creation of people, and people have bias and make mistakes. I believe AI based solutions can be very useful to help with video conference use cases as @jwai_intc described, as well as other workloads to try and catch problems before they become noticeable for end users. Going back to your question on mistakes, I think it's something that improve over time as the industry is able to improve our knowledge of how to train and validate AI solutions in a way to detect and address bias that can lead to mistakes or undesired outcomes.

 

[DanB - Intel]

As the AMA is winding down, I wanted to thank everyone that participated. I had fun answering your questions and hope to have a chance to do something like this again.

 

[MKnott]

Thanks a lot to the team from Intel who took part and to everyone who asked questions.

We're closing up the AMA now and we'll round up the thread into a digest post on the front page. Remember the laptop giveaway closes on the 17th November so if you haven't entered, be sure to do so!