Intel® vPro® Platform for Education: Just What You Need

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers have always been asked to do more with less. They’ve had to juggle a full load of large class sizes with limited budgets, limited supplies, and technology that wasn’t built with today’s challenges in mind.

Imagine you spent several hours preparing for a typical workday. But when you got to your office, your computer took forever to load, it could not handle multiple browser tabs being open, and then it just crashed all together. This is just an average day for teachers in public education. And when they have classes to teach, waiting for computer issues to be fixed is not an option.

School IT departments face similar issues. If teachers’ devices are not working, then IT will automatically have a hard time getting them to work too. And in cases where teachers are able to switch to a hybrid model and teach their students from home, IT may not always have the right tools to keep everyone secure and those devices well managed.

Just as students need a device that suits their needs per their age and grade, educators and school staff need reliable technologies to fit their needs too. I believe that the new Intel® vPro® Essentials on Windows and Intel® vPro® Enterprise on Windows and Chrome can be that reliable tech that teachers and school IT departments need right now.

Now I am not saying that access to reliable technologies will outright solve all the challenges teachers and IT staff face in schools today, but I am saying that having reliable technology can help alleviate that feeling teachers know all too well: they must do more with less.

Intel® vPro® platform with 12th Gen Intel® Core™ processors
Recently, Intel launched the latest Intel® vPro® platform powered by 12th Gen Intel® Core™ processors. Now, let me tell you, the next generation of Intel Core processors is a game changer. It has the power businesses and schools need. I have always believed that schools need enterprise-level devices, and now schools have an option that can deliver what they deserve.

The next generation of Intel® Core™ has a comprehensive security platform for in-class and remote learning. Not many know this, but the hackers who target large enterprises are the hackers who target schools and their respective IT resources, which is why software-based security alone is no longer enough. The 12th Gen of Intel® Core™ processors offers security at the hardware level, keeping teachers, school staff, and students safe from software-based and hardware-based attacks.

This next generation of Intel® Core™ processors has a new performance hybrid architecture. With access to performance cores for larger applications and efficient cores for multitasking, teachers and staff can stay productive as workloads are allocated on the Intel Core processor to achieve the best performance.

However, what I am most excited about is that we are now offering an Intel® vPro® platform portfolio, so schools can select a platform option that will best fit their needs. There are technically four versions of the Intel® vPro® platform, but three are best suited for education: Intel® vPro® Essentials, Intel® vPro® Enterprise, and Intel® vPro® Enterprise for Chrome OS.

Intel vPro Essentials: An added layer of security and collaboration

First off, Intel® vPro® Essentials is a brand-new version unlike any other variation of the Intel® vPro® platform. To start, let’s think about the Intel® vPro® platform as a strong foundation with already powerful functions and capabilities. Intel® vPro® Essentials adds one more layer to the foundation that already comes with the Intel vPro platform. It has all the security and performance features that schools need, along with standard manageability features and reliable firmware updates.

Specifically, Intel vPro Essentials extends security and device management capabilities for schools that have smaller IT departments or budgets. I understand not every school in the US can have the resources or same opportunities that large enterprises have, which is why this version of the Intel vPro platform is so—well—essential! It enables these schools to invest in purpose-built PCs with security and collaboration built in. Intel vPro Essentials incorporates Intel® Hardware Shield, which comes with Intel® Threat Detection Technology, to help protect users at the hardware level.

If teachers and school staff have access to high-powered devices with comprehensive security and collaboration tools—no matter the size of their IT department or budget plan—they can focus on educating with reliable technologies and better providing for their students.

Adding another layer with Intel® vPro® Enterprise and Intel® vPro® Enterprise for Chrome OS

The next versions of the Intel vPro platform now available include Intel vPro Enterprise and Intel vPro Enterprise for Chrome OS, which add another robust layer to the basics that come with the Intel vPro platform and Intel vPro Essentials.

With Intel vPro Enterprise, you not only get greater processing power, comprehensive security, and the same collaboration tools as the Intel vPro Essentials platform, but you also get additional manageability tools, including Intel® Active Management Technology (Intel® AMT). This provides users with persistent out-of-band connectivity that operates independently of the OS. The Intel vPro Enterprise platform also comes with Intel® Endpoint Management Assistant software as part of Intel AMT, giving IT staff the ability to manage Intel AMT remotely and securely beyond the firewall via the cloud.

For Chrome OS fans, Intel vPro Enterprise is now available on Chromebooks in a new collaboration with HP and Google. The HP Elite Dragonfly is the very first Chromebook with the Intel vPro® platform for added manageability and stability. This 2-in-1 device is lightweight and powerful, and it comes with 32 GB of memory and up to 512 GB of SSD storage. This can also empower IT staff with the right tools they need to keep those teacher devices secure and well-managed. And coming soon, HP is announcing a second Chromebook—also built with 12th Gen Intel® Core™ processors—powered by the Intel® vPro® platform with multilayered security and exceptional performance.

With the Intel vPro platform now being offered on Chrome OS devices, teachers can use the device that feels most comfortable for them, and they can feel like their workload needs are met. Even more, managed IT departments can help meet their schools’ manageability, stability, and security needs.

Supporting our teachers and IT staff

As someone who has worked in the tech and education industries for nearly 10 years, I think that when teachers are constantly asked to do more with less, they feel unsupported. That is why I think it is time we empower our educators and IT departments with access to reliable, stable, manageable, and secure technology—technology that works! And I believe that the Intel vPro Essentials and Intel vPro Enterprise platforms can be that reliable tech that teachers and education IT departments need right now.