Dell on 27 August will share the stage with Intel to unveil its first vPro enterprise desktop computers.

vPro is Intel's attempt to lower the costs of IT management, based on Intel's Active Management Technology. Systems with the brand are currently available from HP, Lenovo and Acer. But Dell, the world's second largest PC maker, is boycotting the platform.

16 Aug 2007

To put it in Dell's words, vPro isn't sufficiently open. You can read that as: AMD should be able to make a compatible system. By embracing WS-Man as well as some other industry standards, Intel now seems to have met Dell's demand.

That doesn't solve all of Intel's vPro headaches however. The market for virtual management appliances is still sparsely populated, with Lenovo being the sole vendor. Symantec too is preparing its appliance (everybody say "Hi!" to "Project Hood"). No doubt Intel would love to see the security vendor launch its appliance on Monday, but there is no word yet that that will actually happen.

Intel CEO Paul Otellini at the vPro unveiling in April 2006