OCWORKBENCH attended the event and was in for a surprise for the new Intel 945
and 955X support for the AMT technology. AMT technology means Active Management
Technolgy. As we know, the management or troubleshooting of a corporate network
of PC has always been a major headache for technical support staff. If all PCs
in a corporate are already linked up in a LAN, is there an easy way to manage
them, troubleshoot them when they're down ?
Well, AMT allows you to do that easily through a web browser. In the
demonstration, Intel staff purposely shut down a 945 based PC to simulate a
system down scenario. From another PC, he is able to access the "dead PC". With
its web browser, a web page is displayed prompting administrator username and
password to access the "dead PC".
The "dead PC" which has an IP address is in fact not totally dead as it is still
connected to the power source and the internal network component is still on
standby for a "Wakeup" initiation from remote PC to take control of it. The
demonstrator login to the "dead PC" and can change the PC log of what happened
before. The more interesting fact about this technology is that you can actually
MAP a remote drive to your local system (which monitors the dead PC). With that
in mind, you can actually remotely administer the HDD of the "dead PC". From
what I gathered, they can remotely install OS and remap the screen to the remote
PC. If you use OpenView, you can remotely administer these PCs as well.
This technology is made possible by the mainboards power and with the Intel
network chipset supporting this feature. Some other features of these technology
include remote discover computing assets in any state for inventory purposes,
remotely heal computing assets.
This technology is only available on the 945 and 955, I was told. It would be
disastrous if a hacker can remotely shut down and format away all your HDDs in a
corporation. Every technology has its up and down side. I wouldn't be surprised
that 3rd party chipset makers will come out with similar technology that can
work with not only 945/955 but with all other chipsets in the time to come.
