Intel Launches Xeon D Processor Built for the Network and Edge

Ahead of MWC Barcelona 2022, Intel launched new Intel® Xeon® D processors: the D-2700 and the D-1700. They are Intel’s newest system-on-chip (SoC) built for the software-defined network and edge, with integrated AI and crypto acceleration, built-in Ethernet, support for Intel® Time Coordinated Computing (Intel® TCC) and Time Sensitive Networking (TSN), and industrial-class reliability. New Intel Xeon D processors extend compute with acceleration beyond the core data center, generating a better overall experience for key network and edge usages and workloads.

“As the industry enters a world of software-defined everything, Intel is delivering programmable platforms for networking and the edge to enable one of the most significant transformations our industry has ever seen. The new Intel Xeon D processor is built for this. Based on the proven and trusted Intel architecture, this processor is designed for a range of use cases to unleash innovation across the network and edge.” - Dan Rodriguez, Intel corporate vice president, Network & Edge Group, general manager of the Network Platforms Group

Why It Matters

The growing opportunity for network and edge infrastructure will reach $77 billion by 2026¹, and more than 50% of data is expected to be created and processed outside of traditional data centers by 2025². Anticipating these trends, the new Intel Xeon D processor includes specific capabilities to meet the unique workload requirements of the software-defined network and edge.

How New Intel Xeon D Enables Customers

Built to handle the most demanding use cases, such as security appliances, enterprise routers and switches, cloud storage, wireless networks, AI inferencing and edge servers – they deliver breakthrough performance assisted by Intel® Integrated Ethernet, Intel® QuickAssist Technology, Intel® Software Guard Extensions and AI acceleration with Intel® AVX-512.

Rakuten Mobile deployed the world’s first open, fully virtualized cloud native infrastructure in Japan to deliver a reliable, flexible, scalable, secure and resilient mobile network for its partners and end customers.​ It has incorporated the new Intel Xeon D processor for optimal performance while meeting its specifications to design Symware, a compact, lightweight, self-cooling and weatherproof, containerized RAN solution, working in collaboration with Intel and Juniper. The solution is optimal for the densest urban environments in the world, and in this case, Tokyo, demonstrating the power of vRAN, built on Intel technology.  

About New Intel Xeon D Processors

Two new additions to Intel’s networking and edge processor family, the Intel® Xeon® D-2700 and Intel® Xeon® D-1700, meet customers where they need compute the most: in space- and power-constrained ruggedized environments. They feature industrial-class reliability, multiple hardware-based security capabilities and up to 56 high-speed PCIe lanes to support high-bandwidth networks with up to 100Gb Ethernet. Intel® Xeon® D-1700 is scalable from 4 to 10 cores and the Intel Xeon D-2700 is scalable from 4 to 20 cores, delivering a broad platform family for customers to tailor solutions for the compute and performance they need.

The new Intel Xeon D processors feature:

• Up to 4CH DDR4 with 3200 MT/s.
• Up to 100 GbE in the Ethernet throughput capability.
• Up to 32/64 4.0 PCIe lanes.

Built on Sunny Cove Core architecture, the new Intel® Xeon® D processors offer:

• Improved front end, with a higher capacity and improved branch predictor.
• Wider and deeper machine sustained by a wider allocation, larger structures and execution resources.
• Enhancements in transition line buffers (TLBs), single-thread execution and prefetching.
• With new data center-optimized capabilities, including a larger Mid-level Cache (l2) and a higher Vector throughout.

The new processors bring generation-over-generation performance³ increases:

• Up to 2.4 times improvement for visual processing inference.
• Up to 1.7 times improvement for complex networking workloads like 5G UPF at the network edge.
• Up to 1.5 times improvement for SD-WAN, SASE and edge use cases with IPSec. 
• Up to 1.8 times improvement for application delivery controller, and security appliance use cases with TLS.
• Up to 1.56 times improvements for communication appliances.

About Ecosystem Collaboration

Intel’s network and edge technology supports numerous industry use cases, including in factories, smart cities, hospitals and more as they process compute closer to where the data is generated. More than 70 leading technology companies are working with Intel on designs that utilize the newest Intel Xeon D processors, including Cisco, Juniper Networks and Rakuten Symphony. 

^{1 Source: Silicon TAM forecast is based on amalgamation of analyst data and Intel analysis, based ​
upon current expectations and available information and are subject to change without notice.}

^{2 Gartner, Predicts 2022: The Distributed Enterprise Drives Computing to the Edge, Thomas Bittman, Bob Gill, Tim Zimmerman, Ted Friedman, Neil MacDonald, Karen Brown, 20 October 2021.}

^{3For more information, See [1,2,3,6,9] at www.intel.com/processorclaims - Intel® Xeon® D. Results may vary.}