Executive Summary

On August 26, 2007 Intel® announced the second generation of its new microprocessor platform: vPro™. The majority of reviews and media attention focused on the security features of the new platform.

However, there is another implication of the new platform that largely escaped market news. vPro is likely to affect desktop outsourcing in a major way: it gives a boost to the Remote Infrastructure Management Outsourcing (RIMO) model by better equipping suppliers and giving buyers incentives to outsource.  

Buyers typically outsource enterprise desktop environments to traditional ITO suppliers for two reasons: they require a relatively high component of on-site service support and buyers often prefer a “one throat to choke” policy, which prevents them from choosing different suppliers for on-site and offshore service delivery. While RIMO suppliers have tried to address this segment through a combination of remote delivery and on-site partnerships, they have met with limited success.

Intel’s second-generation vPro technology introduction promises to change this status quo. With the ability to deliver an ever-expanding range of services remotely (even while the desktop is switched off), vPro offers additional incentives to buyers to consider a RIMO supplier for outsourcing their desktop environment. At the same time, it becomes easier for suppliers to offer more services remotely and offer services during night-time hours when systems are typically switched off or not in use.

While vPro can significantly change the desktop outsourcing picture for RIMO suppliers, the latter have been slow to adopt the platform, even as traditional suppliers like Atos Origin and EDS have gone ahead and incorporated vPro in their mainstream service offerings. Even though vPro desktops will take a long time to attain critical mass and Intel is known for its massive delays in introducing new platforms, traditional and RIMO suppliers alike should be thinking about positioning vPro-based offerings as a key component around which to build their desktop outsourcing capability.

This paper discusses:

• vPro’s role in incentivising buyers to outsource their desktop IT management
• The benefit to offshore-centric suppliers from leveraging vPro’s remote management capabilities
• The potential for the vPro platform to become a game-changer in terms of offshore suppliers’ presence in the desktop outsourcing business