Intel readies new remote PC access function

Intel has developed technology that lets people remotely power up their computers and retrieve files across an Internet connection, according to a report on The Wall Street Journal site on Wednesday.

The technology, called Remote Wake, will work only on PCs that use a recently introduced chipset from Intel and requires new software to be loaded onto the PC, according to the report. The technology will also reportedly allow PCs that use Internet-based phones services to be remotely activated to receive calls. Remote Wake could also allow consumers using a Web-enabled phone or a laptop connected to the Internet to activate their PCs and retrieve files, according to the report.

Programs that let people remotely access files on their PCs are already on the market, but those computers must be left turned on to allow access to files. Remote Wake will allow access when people put their PCs in "sleep" mode, thereby conserving energy, the newspaper reported.

Remote Wake's greatest application is expected to be with Internet phone calls, which require PCs to be turned on to receive calls.

[AndrewRich]

Ummm... Wake-on-LAN ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake-on-LAN ) has been in consumer-level motherboards for at least a decade if not more.

[dasium]

Yeah, I'm confused as to what's new here...

[eBob1]

I'm not sure I understand what is supposed to be new about this. Either I missed something or more explanation is needed.

[Commander_Spock]

In addition to all the above comments - "?Wake on WAN? is the ability to send that same signal over a wide area network (WAN), such as the Internet, to trigger power-up of a PC on a private LAN..."

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/content/view/29941/53/

and the above "what's new here" comments is echoed! This technology from Intel seems like "Old Wine In A New Wine Skin"!

[Commander_Spock]

Oops, "comments are" instead of "comments is"!

[Ian Kirkland]

Just another open door for viruses and malware!

[GlennAllen]

Yeah, but, just as with sleeping people, by the time it wakes up, the caller will already have been forwarded to your voice-mail system.

[tech_crazy]

The NIC doesn't care where the incoming packets came from - LAN, WAN or even a NIC-NIC connection. So, Wake-on-LAN is actually a misnomer. It is more like a wake-on-network activity.

How is Intel's so called new technology any different? Very old wine in a new bottle.

The big issue with this would be the wake up time. Sometimes it is too long to be practically useful. PCs are notorious for the time to come back on from sleep mode. Standby mode is much better in that respect. All the same, it is not as "green" as the sleep.

[Commander_Spock]

Re: "Intel has developed technology that lets people remotely power up their computers and retrieve files across an Internet connection, according to a report on The Wall Street Journal site on Wednesday...." More (P)ower to keep "ROM" awake. Also, less sleep for "ROM". Huh!

[Javadavada]

Old wine? I don't think so. This is so much more. It maintains your presence in a protocol specific way and intelligently decides when to wakeup. Today it is maintaining a heartbeat with a SIP server and waking on a SIP ALIVE. Tomorrow it could be a digital media adapter or your TV itself waking the PC up to stream some video over your home network, or it could be you simply browsing a file share from your laptop on the desktop PC or initiating a backup to that desktop PC, or your iPhone wanting to sync content against the PC over WiFi on your home network. Does it require any of those devices to know anything about waking the PC up? No, it's intelligent. Is it a new virus backdoor; no, viruses installed on your PC can already wake your PC up anytime. Wake on LAN is old technology; it never took off because it's not transparent and requires every other device to know how to wake you up and even then there is no assurance there is anything interesting to do with the endpoint that is woken up. And it really doesn't work over the internet unless you are smart enough to know how to set your router up to do forwarding. Wake on LAN is limited and dumb, this is smart.

[ni-kit-a]

Great post!
I use now <a href="http://www.proxynetworks.com">remote control software</a> to access remotely my PC, but a have a Intel processor on PC I will try Remote Wake - mat be will work faster.

Thanks for post.