This vPro paper
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/enterprise-security/3rd-gen-core-vpro-data-protection-paper.html
says on page 6,
"The OOB (out-of-band) channel uses a special TCP/IP stack embedded in the
firmware instead of the OS network stack. The channel secures critical
system communication (such as alerting) and operations (e.g., agent presence
checking, remote booting, and console redirection), regardless of OS,
applications, or hard drive state."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_AMT_versions
Similar but different, Intel's Anti-Theft Technology does not require vPro.
The built-in anti-theft technology uses SMS to disable/enable various
features. One would think that would require some kind of pager radio or cell
phone system capability.
The anti-theft feature "...Requires an enabled chipset, BIOS, firmware, and
software..." and a "...subscription to a capable service provider..." (there
are links in earlier posts in this thread)
Seems most people believe that anti-theft and vPro are turned off in their
default setting and that additional hardware cards, beyond the chips, BIOS,
and software, are required in order for them to work.
That makes sense to me, however I have not seen special hardware requirements
spelled out in print on Intel's website. They'll have a list, as in
http://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/datasheets/anti-theft-tested-platforms-support-datasheet.pdf
but do all of those computers have 3g capability built-in? And if additional
cards are needed, why don't they say so? Is it all just assumed to be known?
I don't know. I remain confused.
