Intel formally launched its newest high-end Xeon E5-2600
server processor family on Tuesday, seeking to capitalize
on an explosion of Internet traffic sparked by Web-based
cloud computing, social networking and expanding use of
smartphones and tablet computers.
"These new processors promise to deliver leadership
performance, best data center performance per watt,
breakthrough I/O innovation and trusted hardware security
features to enable IT to scale" Intel said. These
processors are not only at the heart of servers and
workstations, but will also power the next generation of
storage and communication systems from vendors around
the world.
Supporting up to eight cores per processor and up to
768GB of system memory, the Intel Xeon processor E5-2600
product family increases performance by up to 80 percent,
compared to the previous-generation Intel Xeon processor
5600 series. The family also supports Intel Advanced
Vector Extension (Intel AVX) that increases the
performance on compute-intensive applications such as
financial analysis, media content creation and high
performance computing up to 2 times.
Additional built-in technologies such as Intel Turbo
Boost Technology 2.0, Intel Hyper-Threading Technology
and Intel Virtualization Technology provide IT with
flexible capabilities to increase the performance of
their infrastructure dynamically. These performance
advances have led the Intel Xeon processor E5-2600
product family to capture 1510 new dual socket x86 world
records.
The Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 product family also
offer improved energy efficient performance more than 50
percent, as measured by SPECpower_ssj 2008 compared to
the previous generation Intel Xeon processor 5600 series.
These processors offer support for tools to monitor and
control power usage such as Intel Node Manager and Intel
Data Center Manager, which provide real-time power and
thermal data to system management consoles.
The new product family also enables data to flow faster
to support data-hungry applications and increase the
bandwidth within the data center, by taking advantage of
the Intel Integrated I/O (Intel IIO) and Intel Data
Direct I/O (Intel DDIO). Intel DDIO allows Intel Ethernet
controllers and adapters to route I/O traffic directly to
processor cache, reducing trips to system memory reducing
power consumption and I/O latency. The Intel Xeon
processor E5-2600 product family is also the first server
processors to integrate the I/O controller supporting PCI
Express 3.0 directly into the microprocessor. This
integration reduces latency up to 30 percent compared to
prior generations and with PCI Express 3.0 can up to
triple the movement of data into and out of the
processor.
The high-performance processing power along with Intel
Integrated I/O and advanced storage features such as PCIe
non-transparent bridging and asynchronous DRAM refresh,
makes the Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 product family
also a good choice for storage and communications
solutions.
Intel Advanced Encryption Standard New Instruction (Intel
AES-NI14) helps systems to quickly encrypt and decrypt
data running over a range of applications and
transactions. Intel Trusted Execution Technology (Intel
TXT15) creates a trusted foundation to reduce the
infrastructure exposure to malicious attacks. These
features in partnership with software applications will
help IT protect their data centers against attack and
scale to meet the demands of their customers.
Starting today, system manufacturers from around the
world are expected to announce hundreds of Intel Xeon
processor E5 family-based platforms. These manufacturers
include Acer, Appro, Asus, Bull, Cisco, Dell, Fujitsu,
HP, Hitachi, Huawei, IBM, Inspur, Lenovo, NEC, Oracle,
Quanta, SGI, Sugon, Supermicro and Unisys.
The Xeon processor E5-2600 product family will be offered
with 17 different parts which range in price from $198 to
$2,050 in quantities of 1,000. Additionally three
single-socket Intel Xeon processor E5-1600 parts will be
offered for workstations which range in price from $284
to $1,080.
Intel also today announced the Intel Ethernet Controller
X540, which is expected to drive 10 Gigabit Ethernet to
the mainstream by reducing implementation costs. This
single-chip 10GBASE-T solution is designed for low-cost,
low-power LAN on motherboard (LOM) and includes flexible
I/O Virtualization and Unified networking support at no
additional cost.