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Intel 12th gen vPro branches into four distinct platforms across Windows and Chrome, Control Flow Enforcement now coming to desktops for the first time

Intel's 12th gen vPro is now available in four flavors across 150 designs. (Image Source: Intel)
Intel's 12th gen vPro is now available in four flavors across 150 designs. (Image Source: Intel)
Intel has announced the new 12th gen vPro platform with enhanced security features for the new working normal. This time, vPro is being segregated into vPro Enterprise for Windows, vPro Essentials, vPro Enterprise for Chrome, and vPro Evo Design catering to both large and small and medium businesses.

Now that the Intel 12th gen Alder Lake family is available across desktop and mobile, Intel today announced vPro versions of these processors aimed at securing new working modalities. Intel is expanding vPro to include distinct capabilities based on the platform.

This time, vPro is branching out into vPro Enterprise for Windows, vPro Essentials, vPro Enterprise for Chrome, and vPro Evo Design. Intel said that each category offers a set of comprehensive platform security features across the entire computing stack from the hardware to the firmware and ultimately to the OS and apps.

Of these, vPro Enterprise for Windows is the most complete offering focused towards large enterprises while vPro Essentials is targeted more towards small and medium enterprises. vPro Enterprise for Chrome is geared towards enterprises deploying Chromebooks. Intel is offering vPro in Evo designs that leverage the guaranteed device experience and performance metrics in the new Evo 3 platform.

vPro is generally available only up to the Core i5s of the generation. The Core i9, Core i7, and Core i5 SKUs across Alder Lake U9, U15, P28, and H45 TDPs across laptops and 35 W, 65 W, and 125 W TDPs in the desktop segment are offered in vPro variants alongside their consumer counterparts.

On the Windows side, notable vPro features include:

  • Microsoft Secured-core PC compliance
  • Dynamic root of trust
  • OS reporting
  • System management mode protection
  • Intel Control Flow Enforcement Technology (CET) — now for the first time on desktops with 12th gen CPUs
  • Intel Threat Detection Technology (TDT) — hardware-based ransomware detection that works with compatible antivirus software for anomalous behavior detection
  • Intel Total Memory Encryption-Multi Key (TME-MK) 
  • Intel Virtualization Technology with Redirect Protection (VT-rp)
  • Hardware support for next wave OS virtualization support pending a future Windows update
  • Enhancements to Intel chipsets for fault injection detection

Intel said that more than 150 vPro designs can be expected this year including ones conforming to Evo. These designs will feature eligible 12th gen processors, Intel Wi-Fi 6E and Connectivity Performance Suite, support for ECC memory, and Thunderbolt 4.

Buy the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 with Core i5-1145G7 vPro on Amazon

12th gen vPro features. (Source: Intel)
12th gen vPro features. (Source: Intel)
Eligible 12th gen Alder Lake processors for vPro. (Source: Intel)
Eligible 12th gen Alder Lake processors for vPro. (Source: Intel)

Source(s)

Intel Press Brief

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2022 03 > Intel 12th gen vPro branches into four distinct platforms across Windows and Chrome, Control Flow Enforcement now coming to desktops for the first time
Vaidyanathan Subramaniam, 2022-03- 3 (Update: 2022-03- 3)