vPro Essentials vs vPro Enterprise

[apm027]

Hello,

I am currently exploring vPro Essentials vs vPro Enterprise options, especially in regards to the AMT and RMM capabilities.

As far as I understood, vPro Essentials does not have AMT and therefore no hardware manageability options on EMA. However, this article Intel® Endpoint Management Assistant (Intel® EMA) Issues...  brings up the fact that vPro Essentials will have CIRA connectivity with ME 16+. Would that mean that the new vPro Essentials devices will AMT? Or what is the case here?

Thank you

[DavidBenedict]

Hello apm027,

Both vPro options have Intel® AMT technology (Intel® AMT is a feature of Intel® vPro platform). 

Intel EMA has the availability to show the hardware manageability for both vPro options.

Intel EMA has two provision methods: CIRA and TLS relay. Intel EMA is supported on endpoints running management engine (ME) 11.8.79 or higher.

The main difference, vPro Essentials does not have an out-of-band (OOB) connection and remote access is available on wired connections only.

for reference Differences between Intel® Active Management Technology (Intel® AMT) and Intel® Standard Manageability https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000090499/technologies/intel-active-management-technology-intel-amt.html

section 1.2.6 In-band vs. Out-of-band- CIRA

https://www.intel.com/content/dam/support/us/en/documents/software/manageability-products/intel-ema-admin-and-usage-guide.pdf#page=11

I will gladly provide further assistance if necessary.

Warm regards,

David Benedict

Intel Customer Support.

[MIGUEL_C_Intel]

Hello, apm027,

If further assistance is necessary, do not hesitate to reply.

Regards,

Miguel C.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[vij1]

Hello Apm027,

Greetings!

We will gladly provide further assistance if necessary.

Regards,

Vijay N.

[Mr_vPro]

Hi,

you got it correct - Intel vPro Essentials are based on ME FW 16.x or newer and includes new/updated/enhanced Intel Standard Manageability (ISM)  feature (which is feature limited subset of Intel AMT HW manageability solution).

ME FW 16.x ISM enhancements are described at https://software.intel.com/sites/manageability/AMT_Implementation_and_Reference_Guide/WordDocuments/intelamtrelease160architecture.htm 
it adds WiFi support and Internet remote manageability with Intel EMA with added CIRA feature support.

HW KVM Redirection is not supported by ISM with any ME FW generation - you will need Intel vPro Enterprise or Intel vPro platform with ME FW 15.x or earlier (but ME FW 6.x or newer).

Links which  David Benedict provided are valid for ME FW up to 15.x only where WiFi and CIRA was not supported, and Intel ISM was available only on desktop and workstation  chipset platforms (not on mobile platforms).

rgds

Dariusz Wittek

Biz Client Technical Sales Specialist  |  Intel EMEA CCG Technical Sales

Intel Corporation  |  intel.com