Empower Your Distributed Workforce with Cloud Native Endpoint Management from Intel and VMware

Improve manageability and security and empower your distributed workforce with VMware Workspace ONE® on the Intel vPro® platform.

According to one survey, businesses expect that 58 percent of their workforces will be fully remote in five years.¹ This is a huge achievement, made possible by the technological innovations and computing advances that have accelerated digital transformation across every industry.

But supporting a distributed workforce across geographies in such large numbers is rife with challenges: increased PC management complexities, varied computer performance and employee computing experiences, and ever-expanding security threats. For IT pros, the complexities can seem endless. A remote distributed workforce uses a mix of device types and data-intensive applications that can make managing the end-user computing environment complicated, costly, and time-consuming for IT. And IT’s role for many organizations is also going through its own transformation to create more business value with fewer resources.

It’s not surprising that modern, cloud-native approaches are clearly necessary.   Not only in order  to keep employees productive and help keep the data on their PCs secure, but do so any time and any place they are  working.

Intel and VMware: Delivering integrated endpoint management

I’m thrilled that Intel and VMware have partnered to provide a joint solution that helps employers and their IT departments support remote workers everywhere. We’ve brought the best of our Intel vPro platform to support VMware’s Workspace ONE - a leading cloud-native device-management solution. The combination of the world’s leading business PC platform– Intel vPro – which brings hardware-based security and performance to the vast majority of enterprises today with the power of Workspace One makes lives of IT admins easier by simplifying and automating crucial tasks.

Intel and VMware have a shared goal of enabling the best experiences for the modern distributed workforce by delivering chip-to-cloud PC management and security capabilities that benefit end users and IT alike. Intel vPro technology capabilities enhance Workspace ONE with endpoint manageability and security, in addition to hardware-based telemetry insights.

Here are some of the exciting ways that IT can remotely manage devices using Workspace ONE on the Intel vPro platform.

App installs, profile deployment, and OS updates

The compliance needs of organizations are becoming more complicated and security-critical. Yet operating system (OS), app, and profile updates are more difficult to accomplish today as remote devices are mostly connected to non-corporate networks. In addition, working hours have changed dramatically from the traditional 9–5 schedule. Updating devices can be a piecemeal exercise when some PCs are on, and others are switched off.

With Intel vPro technology and Workspace ONE, IT can manage update schedules and streamline endpoint management and compliance on devices with or without functioning operating systems​, no matter where in the world the devices are located or what power state they are in.  Not only does this save IT cost and resources but can help minimize disruption to end users.

Out-of-band device support

Traditionally, IT cannot access PCs when they are not connected to the corporate network or powered off (out-of-band).

With Intel vPro technology and Workspace ONE, IT administrators have full keyboard, video, and mouse (KVM) access to the device to fix OS issues, even when the OS isn’t working. KVM can also be used to remediate OS issues so the PC can boot back up again, restoring Workspace ONE services of continued protection and management for the PC. This helps minimize downtime and the IT resources needed to resolve issues, and it helps employees be fully productive again.

Device reset and end-of-life management

IT typically needs physical access to device solid state drives (SSDs) to help ensure secure cleanup. Device drives must be wiped clean when a PC is lost, stolen, or reaches its end-of-life. Many existing solutions leave data on drives, or they work inconsistently.

With Workspace ONE on the Intel vPro platform, IT can remotely erase supported SSDs, reducing the risk of corporate data getting into the wrong hands, and devices can be safely retired or repurposed for use by a new employee.

Enabling better IT support and employee experiences

With the integrated VMware and Intel solution, organizations get a cloud-native, simplified activation experience for Intel® Active Management Technology (Intel AMT) -- allowing enabling out-of-band power management, patching, and recovery.   Additionally, we are combining the rich, hardware-based, telemetry-capable Intel vPro platform with the core-analytics and automation tool, Workspace ONE Intelligence, to gain valuable insights like Wi-Fi performance and battery health. Together, these tools enable IT to proactively identify, predict, and resolve issues to help keep employee productivity at a peak level while keeping TCO lower.

The future of work continues to evolve in new and exciting ways. I encourage you to learn how you can empower your distributed workforce and IT with the unique cloud-native integration of Intel vPro technology and VMware Workspace ONE. Learn more about it at intel.com/vmware.