The Intel® Xeon® Scalable processor family1 is the most universally deployed data center platform across the globe. The second generation of the platform has integrated artificial intelligence (AI) acceleration, Intel® Deep Learning Boost (Intel® DL Boost) technology and support for Intel® Optane™ DC persistent memory.
Now, a refreshed set of processors has been introduced into the 2nd Generation Intel Xeon Scalable family, with cost- and performance-optimized particularly for usage over the cloud, network and the edge.
These new processors2 boast enhancements like higher core counts, increased cache sizes, or higher frequencies. The new processors—labeled “R,” “T” or “U”— are designed for dual- and single-socket mainstream and entry-level server systems.
As part of the update, Intel has also introduced several new SKUs3 under its 2nd Generation Intel Xeon Scalable processor family lineup. The processors offer more cores, higher frequency, and higher caching. This enables customers to obtain better performance per dollar spent.
Intel’s new processors – the Intel® Xeon® Gold 6256 processor4 and the Intel® Xeon® Gold 6250 processor5 showcase industry-leading server processor frequency, achieving a base and turbo frequency of up to 3.9 GHz and 4.5 GHz, respectively. This update guarantees unparalleled performance for customers, meaning that whatever time companies take for finishing specific processing tasks, the new 2nd Generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors can do a lot faster.
2nd Generation Intel Xeon Scalable Processors: How Are Customers Finding Value?
With an exponential increase in data generation and consumption, the fast development of cloud-scale computing, developing 5G networks, high-performance computing (HPC) and AI, data centers and networks are under pressure to instantly cope or be left behind in an extremely hostile environment for businesses. This means that future workloads will require infrastructure that can smoothly scale to deliver real-time responsiveness as well as varied performance specifications.
In this context, the updated 2nd Generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors provide a platform that delivers enhancements in performance, AI inference, network functions, persistent memory bandwidth, and security. Customers across the globe have embraced Intel Xeon Scalable processors as the foundation for data center processing.
The new platform is aimed at solving the expanding need for data and having capabilities of AI-driven workloads. More mainstream customers will also be able to benefit from its latest releases, with a range of scalable, value-driven offerings that can help power edge computing, networking and Internet of Things (IoT) usage. Intel’s data-centric platforms give the most comprehensive market coverage of any server processor platform—from the cloud, over the network, and to the intelligent edge.
The updated Intel Xeon Scalable processors with increased chip frequencies offer customers an enhanced experience. According to Intel6, improved frequencies are optimum for clients running workloads like financial trading, simulation and modeling, HPC and database applications—all of which scale with clock frequency. The improvement in cache size and core count optimizes the latest processors for applications like virtualized clouds, hyper-converged infrastructure, and network function virtualization, where capacity-per-server is a significant factor.
The new 2nd Generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors7 target three broad customer use cases:
- Industry-leading frequencies for high-performance usages: The new Intel Xeon Gold 6200 processor delivers up to 4.5 GHz processor frequency with Intel® Turbo Boost Technology and up to 33% more processor cache, offering customers breakthrough performance for frequency-fueled workloads.
- Enhanced performance for mainstream usages: New Intel Xeon Gold 6200R and 5200R processors deliver built-in value through a combination of higher base and Intel Turbo Boost Technology frequencies, in addition to increased processor cache.
- Increased value and capability for entry-level, edge computing, networking and IoT usages: New Intel® Xeon® Gold 6200U, Intel® Xeon® Silver 4200R, Intel® Xeon® Silver 4210T and Intel® Xeon® Bronze 3200R processors deliver increased value for single-socket entry-level servers, as well as edge, networking and IoT usages.
How Businesses Can Leverage the New 2nd Generation Intel Xeon Scalable Processors to Transform Themselves
In India, the innovation infrastructure is driving a massive acceleration for digitally transformed companies. If you look at what is happening in the Indian tech industry, data is growing at a phenomenal pace. The colossal amount of data generated by Indian companies has to be moved, stored, processed, and analyzed in order to gain meaningful and actionable insights.
For example, in sectors like banking8 and e-commerce, India is going through a paradigm shift driven by new-age digital customers. Therefore, it is critical for such industries to deploy modern IT infrastructure that is future-ready. One of the critical challenges for the majority of banking and e-commerce players in India is achieving scalability of applications and infrastructure, together with stability.
Intel’s strategy is strictly adjusted to the increasing demand across the industry, government, cloud vendors, SaaS companies, information service providers, startups, and system integrators in the nation. Intel’s extensive product portfolio to move, store and process data from the intelligent edge to the multi-cloud and back marks the company’s unique expertise in accelerating innovation across various sectors and creating the subsequent wave of market growth for clients, including other tech giants such as Amazon Web Services (AWS)9.
By accelerating the country’s IT infrastructure, Intel has led the market and has been serving its customers to meet challenges pertaining to legacy IT and architecture, through its 2nd Generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors. Using the 2nd Generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors, Intel’s customers have built agile and scalable technology infrastructure to power their digital transformation. This means that Intel’s customers can run more virtual machines (VMs) per processor, which is to serve the needs of millions of users in India at once.
Intel Xeon Scalable processor family continues to power not only data centers but also edge workloads. This provides hardware improvements to accelerate workloads across areas such as retail, industrial manufacturing, computer vision, and smart cities—all of which are critical areas of growth for India in the coming years.
Final Thoughts
With its wide range of processors, Intel has reinforced its data center leadership by delivering the performance and utility that customers demand. The 2nd Generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors support the broadest market coverage of any server processor platform. Currently, Intel Xeon Scalable processors are the only mainstream server processor with integrated AI acceleration, with Intel DL Boost technology and with support for Intel Optane DC persistent memory, which offers a broad and persistent memory tier at affordable prices.
Sources
1Intel Xeon Scalable Processor: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/processors/xeon/scalable.html
2New Processors: https://newsroom.intel.com/news/xeon-scalable-5g-network-portfolio-launch/
3SKUs: https://newsroom.intel.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2020/02/2nd-Gen-Xeon-Scalable-SKU-Stack.jpg
4Xeon Gold 6256 Processor: https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/198655/intel-xeon-gold-6256-processor-33m-cache-3-60-ghz.html
5Xeon Gold 6250 Processor: https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/198652/intel-xeon-gold-6250-processor-35-75m-cache-3-90-ghz.html
6Intel: https://newsroom.intel.com/news/xeon-scalable-5g-network-portfolio-launch/
7New Second-Generation Intel Xeon: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/processors/xeon/scalable.html
8Banking: https://www.intel.in/content/www/in/en/financial-services-it/financial-services-overview.html
