During the middle of 2007, Intel released the next wave of vPro platforms for desktops and finally extended the capabilities to the mobile platform. With these latest iterations, Intel has addressed many of vPro's major shortcomings (support for notebooks and industry standards, and improved tools) and is now worth considering for management-oriented organizations. As a result, we have seen a significant increase in corporate adoption of vPro, with more than 40% of corporate desktop purchases now including vPro capability and even higher uptake on notebooks.

Our improved opinion on vPro is the result of five key changes made during the past year:

• All the major PC manufacturers are now endorsing -- and promoting -- vPro for their enterprise platforms. In particular HP, Dell and Lenovo have all made positive moves with vPro products.
• Mobile support was added with the arrival of Centrino Pro (renamed Centrino with vPro for 2008) systems.
• Intel has wisely chosen to focus on the AMT remote management capabilities of vPro, rather than the more contentious virtual appliance components. These remote management facilities are quite strong when combined with the appropriate desktop management tools.
• The price difference between vPro and non-vPro versions of systems has significantly decreased and is typically well below $20.
• Although still proprietary, vPro is now more aligned with the DMTF's DASH initiative and is receiving significantly better third-party support. Although vPro remains an Intel-only offering, broad industry availability of vPro-based PCs and management tools is now available from all major OEMs, has made vPro a de facto configuration standard and poses little risk of vendor lock-in for customers.