Intel unveils wireless version of vPro for Centrino laptops

By Colleen Taylor, Contributing Editor -- 4/5/2007

Chip giant Intel Corp. announced Wednesday plans to extend into the mobile realm its Intel vPro processor technology features designed for desktop business PCs into its forthcoming high-performance laptop offering, under a new brand dubbed Intel Centrino Pro.

According to the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company, the technology will enable IT departments to manage both desktops and notebooks and deal wirelessly with problems like security threats, cost of ownership, resource allocation, and asset management.

"Intel Centrino Pro processor technology brings the best of our offering with Intel vPro processor technology and adds it right into our highly successful Intel Centrino brand for laptops," Mooly Eden, VP of Intel's mobile products group, said in a statement. "This is an ideal time for this product as we continue to see notebook penetration rates increasing in business."

In addition to allowing IT managers to manage and protect their notebooks over Wi-Fi, Intel said that its Centrino Pro processor technology will enable administrators to manage both wired notebooks and desktop PCs regardless of their power state or the health of the PC. The result, Intel said, is better protected PCs, increased IT department compliance, more accurate PC inventories, fewer desk-side visits and less interruption to business.

Intel said its vPro technology has caught on quickly in the business world—and that it expects Centrino Pro to follow with similar success. According to the company, more than 200 business deployments of vPro are underway worldwide, ranging from the thousands to tens of thousands of PCs per customer including 3M, BMW, FujiFilm, ING, Johns Hopkins, Pioneer and Verizon. Many of these customers will add Intel Centrino Pro processor technology to their deployments when it is available later this year, Intel said.

In addition, Intel said there is broad industry corporate software support for Intel Centrino Pro processor technology with software applications and solutions being offered from such companies as Altiris, CA Inc., Cisco, Credant Technologies, Hitachi JP1, HP, Microsoft, LANDesk and Trend Micro.

Intel Centrino Pro processor technology will be available in Q2 as part of the company's planned introduction of the next generation Centrino processor technology, code-named 'Santa Rosa.'

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