Miniature PC with Active Management Technology

[idata]

Hi

My company is being asked to design a miniature Windows XP based machine for mounting on the back of remote plasma screens.

We are very keen to use the Intel Active Management Technology (AMT) which we understand is part of the vPro product range, in order that the systems can be remotely monitored, booted and rebooted easily. We have head that there is a new mini-ITX range of motherboards coming out in Q3 using the Atom processor, (the 'Little Falls' range) which would be ideal from a size perspective. Will AMT be an available feature? Is there any other hardware configuration that might recommended instead?

Should we wish to use a twin head monitor output to drive 2 independent plasmas, are there any suggestions?

Many thanks

Ned Hawes

[JLodh]

Since you are looking for a miniature PC and as you describe, I believe you are looking for http://channel.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=12771 Intel Wall PC

however since you are keen to use http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Active_Management_Technology AMT, I must inform you that the usual miniature PCs are now being shipped with Intel Atom processor. Now, to use AMT, you should have a vPro enabled motherboard which is provided by http://www.intel.com/design/chipsets/embedded/q965.htm?iid=SEARCH& Q965 chipset and here is a list of all the available vPro enabled motherboards:

Itautec

Intel® Q35 Express Chipset

03/2008

Positivo Informatica

Intel® Q35 Express Chipset

01/2008

Semp Toshiba Informática Ltda

Intel® Q965 Express Chipset

09/2007

AsusTek

Intel® Q965 Express Chipset

07/2007

Gigabyte

Intel® Q965 Express Chipset

07/2007

965QM-DS2

Positivo Informatica

Intel® Q965 Express Chipset

06/2007

Q9657MC-8KRS2H

Foxconn

Intel® Q965 Express Chipset

10/2006

Intel® Desktop Board DQ965WC

Intel

Intel® Q965 Express Chipset

08/2006

Intel® Desktop Board DQ965CO

Intel

Intel® Q965 Express Chipset

08/2006

Intel® Desktop Board DQ965GF

Intel

Intel® Q965 Express Chipset

08/2006

All these motherboards are MicroATX and it may seem that you might just not be able to fit any of these motherboards in wall PC or similar smaller chassis however the good news is, of these motherboards,

• DQ965CO is a MicroBTX (9.60 inches by 9.60 inches)

and

• http://www.intel.com/products/motherboard/dq965wc/index.htm DQ965WC is a PicoBTX (8.00 inches by 10.50 inches)

where all form factors sizes are as follows: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BTX_%28form_factor%29 Form Factor Sizes

I hope you are following me here. See, now what you can do is, take either of these motherboards, measure the dimensions as provided before buying and see if they would fit in your Wall PC (Miniature PC)'s chassis. Once done, you are ready to fly high, go with Core2Duo processor and get an immaculate performance that is too good for a miniature PC along with features of AMT making you go vPro enabled.

I must conclude by saying that this is a carefully done calculation and I suppose it should work well. You must on your part do all the necessary homework before going for it and feel free to consult us in case of any doubts and let us know how it went ... keep us posted and best of luck!

--

Warm Regards,

Javed Lodhi