Intel, on February 24, announced brand-new additions to the Xeon 6 processor lineup, introducing new Xeon 6 chipsets with performance-focused P-cores alongside new Ethernet solutions. The company states that this move aims to meet the growing demands of next-generation workloads, such as artificial intelligence, which require both high performance and efficient computing.
Intel has made bold claims regarding these processors, stating that the Xeon 6 family delivers the industry’s best CPU for AI while simultaneously improving efficiency and reducing the cost of ownership. Here’s what you need to know about Intel’s latest products.
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Intel Xeon 6700 and 6500 Series Processors with P-Cores
These processors offer up to 1.4 times better performance compared to the previous generation. Intel claims that this improvement enables a wide range of use cases, including enterprise applications.
Additionally, Intel states that the Xeon 6 is the foundational CPU for AI systems and pairs exceptionally well with GPUs, serving as the host node CPU. The company has also directly compared its performance to AMD EPYC processors, claiming that Xeon 6 delivers up to 1.5 times better performance in AI inference on-chip while using one-third fewer cores.
Overall, due to its efficiency, the Xeon 6 results in a 68% reduction in total cost of ownership.
Xeon 6 For Network and Edge
The Intel Xeon 6 Network and Edge processor uses Intel’s built-in accelerators for virtualised radio access networks. These built-in accelerators support virtualised radio access networks, media AI, and network security, addressing the growing demand for network and edge solutions.
Intel claims that the Xeon 6 SoCs deliver up to 2.4 times the RAN capacity and a 70% improvement in performance per watt compared to the previous generation. This is largely attributed to Intel’s vRAN Boost technology.
In addition, Intel Xeon 6 processors with P-cores also deliver compute to support small to midsize generative AI models for inferencing, fine-tuning, and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) use cases, the company said.
Furthermore, Intel states that the Xeon 6 is the industry’s first server SoC with a built-in media accelerator, called the Intel Media Transcode Accelerator, enabling up to 14x performance per watt compared to the Intel Xeon 6538N.
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New Intel Ethernet Solutions
Intel has also introduced new Ethernet solutions alongside the Xeon 6 processors. The company unveiled two new Ethernet controller and network adapter product lines to address the growing demand for enterprise, telecommunications, cloud, high-performance computing, edge, and AI applications.
The initial availability includes dual-port 25GbE PCIe and OCP 3.0-compliant adapters, with more expected later this year.
The two new products are:
- Intel Ethernet E830 Controllers and Network Adapters: These offer up to 200GbE bandwidth, flexible port configurations, and precision timing capabilities, including Precision Time Measurement (PTM).
- Intel Ethernet E610 Controllers and Network Adapters: These provide 10GbE SET connectivity, optimised for control plane operations, simplifying network deployments while maintaining power efficiency.
Intel’s AI-Focused Strategy And Adoption
Intel has positioned the Xeon 6 lineup to capitalise on the expanding AI market. The company aims to achieve this by delivering high performance across traditional machine learning tasks, small and generative AI models, and GPU-accelerated workloads, while maximising CPU capacity.
Xeon 6 processors have already seen adoption across the data centre ecosystem. Currently, more than 500 designs are either available or in progress.
The company further mentioned that server solutions, software, and services will be offered by leading companies, including AT&T, Verizon, Cisco, Dell, Samsung, Ericsson, HP Enterprise, Lenovo, Microsoft, Nvidia, Oracle, Broadcom, and others.