On Tuesday, chip maker Intel unveiled its latest server processor range, the Xeon E7. The company event went to the extreme by renting out an anterior bank and holding the press event in the vault. The aim of this stunt was to show off and reinforce the chips reliability and security features which are aimed for users carrying out "Mission Critical" tasks, such as banks. According to the New York Times, Intel placed "Secret Service agent lookalikes who wore sunglasses and checked for identification" in the basement.
The Vice President of Intels" Data Center Group, Kirk Skaugen, explained how the E7 is not only more energy efficient but also up to 40 percent faster than previous the Xeon 7500 range. "One rack of servers using the new chip has more power than 18 dual-core Intel servers from five years ago," said the article, which means that, combined with the claimed 93 percent power reduction, data centers around the globe could potentially save millions of dollars by using the new chip.
One other main feature which may help to convert many IT Administrators over the new range is the optimised encryption performance to speed ratio, which, according to Skaugen, was a wasted feature on the previous range as many IT Managers "turned off encryption built into chips to avoid slow performance."
The server processor industry is a huge source of revenue for Intel, their chips already make up 90 percent of the market and the aim is to get customers to move over the new range, possibly by purchasing new hardware from one of 35 systems available from manufacturers such as IBM, HP and Dell.
According to the Intel Press Release, the current models available are the E7-8800/4800 and 2800 and the company claims the new range will "set a new standard for high-end computing applications, including business intelligence, real-time data analytics and virtualization."