At the core of Intel’s “most advanced, highest performance data center platform is the New 3rd Gen Intel Xeon Scalanble processors (code-named Ice Lake), which hopes to enable customers to capitalize on some of the most significant business opportunities today by leveraging the power of artificial intelligence (AI).

The semiconductor chip manufacturer said the new processors have an average of 46% performance improvement on popular data center workloads.

The 3rd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors also add new and enhanced platform capabilities including Intel SGX for built-in security, and Intel Crypto Acceleration, and Intel DL Boost for AI (artificial intelligence) acceleration. These new capabilities, combined with Intel’s broad portfolio of Intel Select Solutions and Intel Market Ready Solutions, enable customers to accelerate deployments across cloud, AI, enterprise, High Performance Computing (HPC), networking, security, and edge applications.

BlackBerry partners with Intel to stop cryptojacking malware

Intel Capital invests $132M in 11 ‘disruptive’ tech startups

“Our 3rd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable platform is the most flexible and performant in our history, designed to handle the diversity of workloads from the cloud to the network to the edge,” said Navin Shenoy, EVP and GM of the Data Platforms Group at Intel. “Intel is uniquely positioned with the architecture, design, and manufacturing to deliver the breadth of intelligent silicon and solutions our customers demand.”

Intel said it designed the New 3rd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors to run in on-premise and distributed multicloud environments.

The built-in AI will enable customers to unlock more valuable insights from organizations’ data.

“As the only data center CPU with built-in AI acceleration, extensive software optimizations, and turnkey solutions, the new processors make it possible to infuse AI into every application from edge to network to cloud,” Intel said in its media release. “The latest hardware and software optimizations deliver 74% faster AI performance compared with the prior generation and provide up to 1.5 times higher performance across a broad mix of 20 popular AI workloads versus AMD EPYC 7763 and up to 1.3 times higher performance on a broad mix of 20 popular AI workloads versus Nvidia A100 GPU.”

Intel SGX

Intel said, the processor’s built-in security, Intel SGX, protects sensitive code and data with the smallest potential attack surface within the system. It is now available on 2-socket Xeon Scalable processors with enclaves that can isolate and process up to 1 terabyte of code and data to support the demands of mainstream workloads. Combined with new features, including Intel Total Memory Encryption and Intel Platform Firmware Resilience, the latest Xeon Scalable processors address today’s most pressing data protection concerns.

The Intel Crypto Acceleration promises to deliver “breakthrough performance” across a host of important cryptographic algorithms. Businesses that run encryption-intensive workloads, such as online retailers who process millions of customer transactions per day, can leverage this capability to protect customer data without impacting user response times or overall system performance.

“To accelerate workloads on the 3rd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable platform, software developers can optimize their applications using one API open, cross-architecture programming, which provides freedom from the technical and economic burdens of proprietary models,” Intel said. “The Intel oneAPI Toolkits help realize the processors’ performance, AI, and encryption capabilities through advanced compilers, libraries, and analysis and debug tools.”

Intel Xeon Scalable processors are supported by more than 500 ready-to-deploy Intel IoT Market Ready Solutions and Intel Select Solutions that help to accelerate customer deployments — with up to 80% of our Intel Select Solutions being refreshed by end of the year.