Silicon Mechanics, Inc., announces availability of a range of products built with the newly launched Intel Xeon processor E5-2600v2 product family. Compared to the previous generation Intel Xeon processor, the new Intel Xeon processor E5-2600v2 (formerly known as Ivy Bridge-EP) features improved performance, energy efficiency, and security. Ideal for compute-intensive applications, the versatile new processor has been designed to serve as the heart of an efficient data center.

The new processor family promises to be up to 40 percent more energy efficient than a previous generation Intel Xeon processor-based server and up to 250 percent more energy efficient than a typical 4-year-old server. The Intel Xeon E5-2600v2 family can serve as a drop-in replacement for existing E5-2600 (Sandy Bridge-EP) CPUs. The Intel Xeon processor E5-2600v2 replaces Sandy Bridge 32nm lithography with 22nm 3-D Tri-Gate transistors, for improved performance and energy efficiency. Major performance improvements include higher core count, with up to 12 cores/24 threads, and up to 30 MB third-level cache - all in the same thermal design points (TDP) as previous generation Xeon processors. The new architecture offers higher clock speed, up to 3.5 GHz, as well as higher memory speed support, up to 1866 MHz.The E5-2600v2 family has four memory channels and an integrated PCIe controller. Most models support Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0, which accelerates processor performance for peak loads, as well as Intel Hyper-Threading Technology, which provides faster performance for demanding business applications by offering thread-level parallelism that benefits multi-threaded and concurrently running applications. Also included is a new advanced programmable interrupt controller virtualization (APICv) feature, which improves virtualization performance, reducing virtualization overhead for I/O bound workloads by eliminating many VM exits.

Security is enhanced by the inclusion of new data protection technology with Intel Advanced Encryption Standard New Instructions (Intel AES-NI) and Intel Secure Key, which encourages encryption by reducing performance penalties. Other Intel Platform Protection Technology features improve security by strengthening malware protection, increasing security against a variety of digital threats, and reducing platform surface attacks.

"Customers who select the Intel Xeon processor E5-2600v2 product family can stay within their current price band and get higher frequency or more cores for the same investment. Or customers can choose the same features as previous years, for a lower price," said Silicon Mechanics Director of Sales, Michael Fein.