State of the Client

Mobility, global distribution, greater amounts of data have changed how Intel gets work done. Learn how Intel IT responds.

With 94,000 clients across 66 sites in 28 countries, the state of the client at Intel has shaped how we work, what we buy, and how we manage.

Each month, we exchange:

• 140 million e-mails,
• 1,996 terabytes of data,
• and back up 989 terabytes of information.

All of this data flying around the globe has created some challenges for Intel IT, and we are responding with nimble ways of doing business.

We are trying to increase the ways that workers share their knowledge to create innovative solutions and shape product definition and development to drive growth.

At the same time, like any organization, we have to balance innovation investments with ongoing operational demands to keep things running.

Changing Paradigm

The dynamics of the workforce have changed over time. Worldwide, we see workers communicating with others around the globe, opening new avenues of collaboration and connection.

More than two-thirds of our Intel employees work in three or more teams without face-to-face meetings because team members are often based in various worldwide locations.

This has caused

• e-mail volume to increase threefold,
• audio conferences fourfold,
• and has accelerated instant messaging as a communication medium.

In response, our computing paradigm has shifted.

In 1995, 80 percent of Intel’s computers were desktops, and 20 percent of users had notebooks.

Today, the exact inverse is true, with a full 80 percent using their wireless notebooks to get work done.

This change in how we work has led to a new client strategy focused on three areas:

• mobility,
• seamless connectivity,
• and rich performance.

Mobility as Strength

The decline in desktop computer use and the corresponding rise in notebook computing are by-products of our drive toward mobility.

The mobile workforce has proven to be flexible, efficient, and cost effective.

Guided by the tenet, “Work is something you do, not someplace you go,” our executives have embraced the mobile workforce and invested in its strength.

Users go online through some 6,300 access points throughout the company, and every Intel facility is wireless. The portability of the notebook allows them to work from a multitude of sites at our worldwide locations or remotely.

Connectivity in Crisis

The fact that mobility holds great value becomes ever clearer when a natural disaster strikes.

Not long ago in Folsom, Calif., a water main break caused the temporary shutdown of one of our facilities. However, the use of notebooks made it easy for our teams there to pick up and work remotely.

Similarly, impassable roads in Portland, Oregon due a snowstorm meant some 5,000 of our staff members there could not report for work. Thanks to their notebooks, they could work from home without issue.

As the mobile workforce has grown, so too has the number of mobile-based applications and tools. To respond to these changes, Intel IT has changed our portfolio of desktops and notebooks, and has zeroed in on performance.

Refresh for Performance

The state of our client has not only shaped what we buy, but also how we buy.

We have changed our purchasing strategy by analyzing the frequency of PC replacement, or PC refresh rate, and by proactively managing the PC life cycle.

Our older PCs tended to have a shorter useful lifetime. As clients demanded new features and capabilities, the PCs drained more quickly and put additional requirements for stability in our platforms.

Consequently, we made the move to higher-performing platforms with configurations that apply across user segments. This brought greater efficiency and effectiveness, and lower costs.

Intel IT has also learned lessons from the length of time we held on to PCs. Aging systems caused problems, such as upsurges in end-user requests for upgrades and increases in performance-related helpdesk calls. Over time, we have analyzed the PC fleet and changed the way it is managed.

Because of these changes, our total cost of ownership (TCO) for client PCs—including end-user support, training, hardware, software, and miscellaneous expenditures—has declined 67 percent since 1995. Today, PCs are not just equipment, but strategic assets.

Keeping Costs Down, Creativity Up

At Intel and many other large companies, the majority of IT spending goes toward keeping the business running. The remaining IT budget is for innovations and enhancements to existing capabilities.

So, to innovate and achieve our goals, we need creative solutions that keep support costs down and maintain high standards of network security.

How do we do this?

One example is Intel® vPro™ technology, a solution built right into Intel® Centrino® 2 and Intel® Core™ 2 processors that allows remote client managementⁱ.

It has been instrumental in raising service levels and lowering costs, while improving productivity, ROI, and security.

To validate its use, Intel vPro technology was piloted in 210 systems across five sites in the United States, and another 90 systems in Malaysia.

The results showed that vPro technology reduced user downtime by allowing IT to remotely diagnose and repair software and hardware failures during off-peak hours.

The pilot program reached breakeven in less than two years and achieved 150 percent ROI by the second year. It also reduced our total IT service costs by as much as 80 percent.

Using Intel vPro technology has now become an integral part of our long-term business strategy.

Efficiency and Agility

Understanding the state of your client is critical to shaping how you work, buy, and manage assets.

At Intel, we arrived at this by embracing mobility for a lower TCO and by managing our PC fleet for greater efficiency and agility. Intel vPro technology has helped lower costs, improve network security, and raise overall service levels.

Intel IT has managed to more effectively deal with the everyday demands of the operating environment, while being able to focus on enhanced performance and ambitious growth goals.

ⁱIntel® Active Management Technology requires the computer system to have an Intel® AMT-enabled chipset, network hardware and software, as well as connection with a power source and a corporate network connection. Setup requires configuration by the purchaser and may require scripting with the management console or further integration into existing security frameworks to enable certain functionality. It may also require modifications of implementation of new business processes. With regard to notebooks, Intel AMT may not be available or certain capabilities may be limited over a host OS-based VPN or when connecting wirelessly, on battery power, sleeping, hibernating or powered off. For more information, see http://www.intel.com/technology/platform-technology/intel-amt/.