Intel Active Management Technology (AMT) is hardware-based technology built into PCs with Intel vPro technology. AMT is designed to help sys-admins remotely manage and secure PCs out-of-band when PC power is off, the operating system (OS) is unavailable (hung, crashed, corrupted, missing), software management agents are missing, or hardware (such as a hard disk drive or memory) has failed.
Intel AMT is built into a small secondary processor located on the motherboard. This OOB controller has embedded firmware that runs on the Manageability Engine (ME), a separate small ARC architecture processor built into the northbridge (or network card for AMT 1.0) of the motherboard. The AMT firmware is stored in the same SPI flash memory component used to store the BIOS and is generally updated along with the BIOS. FWH (Firmware Hub) or LPC firmware storage is not supported for AMT.
In general, an AMT version can be updated in software to the next minor version. New major releases of Intel AMT are built into a new chipset, and are updated through new hardware.
Intel AMT 1.0 — Intel platforms based on the Intel 82573E (Tekoa; usually 945, ICH7) Gigabit Ethernet Controller, e.g., the Intel D975XBX2 motherboard. This version provides basic NVRAM, hardware asset, event log and other basic features. It does not provide Intel System Defense network filters.
Intel AMT 2.0 — Intel vPro desktop platforms based on the Intel Q963/Q965 (Broadwater-Q, ICH8) chipsets, e.g., the Intel DQ965GF motherboard.
Intel AMT 2.1 — Intel AMT 2.0 + AMT Power Savings (Intel Management Engine Wake on LAN) and bug fixes (supported on same platforms as Intel AMT 2.0).
Intel AMT 2.2 — Intel AMT 2.1 + Remote Configuration and bug fixes (supported on same platforms as Intel AMT 2.1 and Intel AMT 2.0).
Intel AMT 2.5 — Intel Centrino Pro mobile platforms based on the GM965/PM965 (Santa Rosa: Crestline, ICH8M) chipsets.
Intel AMT 2.6 — Intel AMT 2.5 + Remote Configuration and bug fixes (supported on same platforms as Intel AMT 2.5).
Intel AMT 3.0 — Intel vPro desktop platforms based on the Intel Q35 (Weybridge: Bearlake-Q, ICH9) chipsets, e.g., the Intel DQ35MP motherboard.
Intel AMT 3.1 — Intel AMT 3.0 + Linux (Red Hat and SUSE) support (supported on same desktop platforms as Intel AMT 3.0; uses same firmware).
Intel AMT 3.2 — Intel AMT 3.0 + extra DASH 1.0 (simplified configuration) support and bug fixes (supported on same desktop platforms as Intel AMT 3.1 and Intel AMT 3.0).
Intel AMT 4.0 — Mobile platforms with Intel Centrino 2 with vPro based on the GM45 or 47/PM45 (Montevina: Cantiga, ICH9M) chipsets.
Intel AMT 4.1 — Intel AMT 4.0 + Intel Anti-Theft Technology. Supported on same mobile platforms as Intel AMT 4.0, and based on the GM45 (Montevina, ICH9M) chipset.
Intel AMT 5.0 — Intel Core 2 vPro desktop platforms (launched September 22, 2008) based on the Intel Q45 (McCreary: Eaglelake-Q, ICH10) chipsets.
Intel AMT 6.0 — Intel Core i5/7 vPro desktop platforms based on the Q57 (Piketon: Ibex Peak) chipset, Core i5/7 vPro mobile platforms based on the QM57 and QS57 (Calpella: Ibex Peak) chipset, and Xeon 3400 series/Core i5 vPro entry workstation platforms based on the 3450 chipset.
Intel AMT 7.0 — Intel Q67 (Sugar Bay: Cougar Point) chipset, mobile QM67 and QS67 (Huron River: Cougar Point) chipset.
Intel AMT 8.0 — Intel Q75 and Q77 (Maho Bay: Panther Point) chipset, mobile QM77 and QS77 (Chief River: Panther Point) chipset.
Intel AMT 9.0 — Intel Q87 chipset, mobile QM87 chipset (Lynx Point). SOAP(EOI) protocol removed.
The following is a comparison of the various features supported by each version of Intel AMT
