Windows XP or Vista?    Who Cares?   SCCM to the Rescue!!

Have you heard any of this before?

•   Windows Vista is not being deployed in corporate America because it lacks real benefit over Windows XP.
•   XP became too entrenched during Vista’s slow development.
•   Vista sales were damaged by initial disappointment in the Beta.
•   Most technical IT users actually loved the Beta.   
•   Vista is slow.
•   Vista is fast.
•   Vista is another ‘ME’ version.
•   I can’t wait for Windows 7. I wish Microsoft would tell me what’s in it.

I have an opinion on these Vista issues, but rather than discuss that, I have something you should really be interested in.

For my money, the real excitement in Microsoft’s Desktop offerings these days isn’t Vista, it is in the Systems Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) product. We already know that Microsoft owns the desktop and some version of the “fat” OS will remain viable as long as management and deployment tools keep pace. For years, C/D/H has had to rely on solutions other than SMS to provide really great management of a Windows desktop. No longer!   Microsoft SCCM, particularly with SP1, is now “ready for prime time!”

SCCM SP1 has just been released and adds stability as well as some interesting features. With SP1, SCCM now has full support for Windows Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008. SP1 also brings improved Asset Intelligence capabilities, including a new Asset Intelligence feature node and the addition of software license management capabilities. Software licenses can now be added to the Asset Intelligence catalog to enable better license management. This is important functionality that has been missing from the product.

The most interesting feature of SP1, in my opinion, is the integration with Active Management Technology (AMT) features.   AMT is a feature of Intel processors with vPro technology (see http://www.intel.com/technology/platform-technology/intel-amt/ for more information). SCCM’s integration with these hardware features is called Out-of-Band (OOB) Management, and brings the following possibilities:

•    Powering on one or many computers via a better network method than Wake-On-LAN broadcast storms.
•    Powering off one or many computers when the OS is hung or the SCCM client is not installed.
•    Booting a workstation from a boot image file or booting it to PXE.
•    Booting to a command-based operating system to run commands, repair utilities, or diagnostic applications.
•    Reconfiguring the BIOS settings on a selected computer.

Out-of-Band management has some configuration requirements, including Windows Server 2003 SP2 for the OOB service point role, a Microsoft enterprise CA and, of course, hardware with Intel AMT version 3.2 or later and the latest HECI driver.

I’m less interested in which flavor of Microsoft OS is on the desktop than I am in how easily it is deployed and managed. System Center can take some of the Vista problems away and/or make your Windows XP environment run like a dream!