Under a new brand called Intel Centrino Pro processor technology, Intel Corporation today announced it will extend its innovative and popular features designed for desktop business PCs called Intel vPro processor technology into its forthcoming high-performance laptop offering. IT departments will be able to reliably manage both desktops and notebooks and deal with what plagues them most - security threats, cost of ownership, resource allocation, and asset management -- and do so wirelessly.

"Intel Centrino Pro processor technology brings the best of our offering with Intel vPro processor technology and adds it right into our highly successful Intel Centrino brand for laptops," said Mooly Eden, vice president of Intel Mobile Products Group. "This is an ideal time for this product as we continue to see notebook penetration rates increasing in business."

With Intel Centrino Pro processor technology, IT managers will be able to manage and protect their notebooks over Wi-Fi. In addition, administrators can manage both wired notebooks and desktop PCs regardless of their power state or the health of the PC. The result is better protected PCs, increased IT department compliance, more accurate PC inventories, fewer desk-side visits and less interruption to business.

Intel Centrino Pro processor technology will be available in the second quarter this year as part of the company's planned introduction of the next generation Centrino processor technology code named 'Santa Rosa.' Both business and consumer notebook users will benefit from the highly acclaimed Intel Core 2 Duo processors, which are at the heart of the platform. The latest versions offer higher performance while also delivering outstanding energy efficiency and battery life.

A new wireless component, Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N will give users more freedom to do more, farther away from their access points with support for the draft 802.11n specification delivering up to five times the performance and twice the wireless range. Users will also enjoy improved graphics performance and support for Microsoft Windows Vista's latest graphic interface Aero. In addition, the optional Intel Turbo Memory means users can experience up to two times faster performance when loading frequently-used applications, and up to a 20 percent faster boot time.

Click here for an Intel Centrino Pro processor technology quote sheet.