In a previous post Using Intel AMT Power Management @ Home I wrote about how to use Intel AMT Power Management at home or let’s say in an environment where you don’t have systems managed by an infrastructure that provides integrated support for Intel AMT.

Now Intel has released a PowerShell Module for Intel vPro. You find all the details in the following blog posts.

Intel Core vPro Processor PowerShell Module – Release & Introduction

Using the Intel Core vPro Processor PowerShell Module – Part 1

Using the Intel Core vPro Processor PowerShell Module – Part 2

So now that we have a PowerShell Module available there is no need anymore to use external command line tools from the Intel SDK. Can’t wait to see it in action? OK here we go.

1. Download the Intel vPro PowerShell Module from here and install it on a machine that has PowerShell installed (Note: Windows 7 includes PowerShell by default).

2. You have a second vPro enabled client that is configured in SMB mode.

3. Create a script with the following content and save it as vpro_on.ps1

import-module intelvpro
Invoke-AMTPowerManagement 192.168.1.248 16992 PowerOn -Username:admin -Password:vProAdmin123*

4. Launch the script in PowerShell, if all goes right, the PC should power on. To turn it off again, simply change PowerOn to PowerOff

That’s it.

Back in December 2009 I posted Remote Management of AMT/vPro machine with WinPE and VNC which explained how to use VNC running in WinPE to remotely manage a vPro enabled device. For those that did try this themselves will have noticed that the process isn’t as comfortable as we would like it to be for day to day use.

But with the Introduction of Intel’s AMT version 6.0 which includes KVM Remote Control and VNC Viewer Plus the scenario of managing a remote device in any state without installing any software on them isn’t wishful thinking anymore, it’s there.

More details and demonstration video’s about VNC Viewer Plus can be found here

Back in December 2009 I wrote an article about Remote Management of AMT/vPro machine with WinPE and VNC the reason for using VNC is because until AMT 5.0 only text based console redirection is supported, hence AMT 5.0 does only support text based operating systems, so if we wanted to remotely manage a PC to fix a problem we ended up using DOS or Linux based recovery media or a solution as described in the above mentioned article.

The waiting is over! With AMT 6.0 Intel introduces a new feature called KVM Remote Control. The beauty of KVM Remote Control is that now we finally get full remote control functionality over remote systems regardless of the operating system they are running or the state they are in.

So no text-mode limitations anymore ? No, we now have full remote control functionality as we are used to when using remote control tools such as VNC.

Although AMT has many other great features that can help improve client manageability and security, I personally believe that the KVM Remote Control feature is going to be a killer feature. Companies that currently use a 3rd Party (non-free) Remote Control solution are given the opportunity to save software licensing costs for their remote control software which will justify the investment in vPro / AMT 6.0 enabled client hardware devices.

The video below contains a demonstration of the AMT 6.0 KVM Remote Control feature.

Or watch a funny but probably realistic version of the KVM Remote Control feature demo in the video below.

Additional Information:
ROI Analysis – Realizing The Cost Saving Benefits of Activating Intel vPro Technology
Intel AMT 6.0 New Features
What’s new in the all new 2010 Intel Core vPro processor family