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Intel Announces Xeon Scalable Processor Family (hothardware.com)
MojoKid writes: Intel unveiled information regarding a new Xeon processor family today, some of which will be based on the company's Skylake-SP architecture. Intel will have four levels of Xeon processors that scale with respect to feature support and core counts. Intel is calling it the Xeon Scalable Family with Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum processors. Today, Xeon model names follow a fairly easy-to-understand format. Take for example the Xeon E5-4640 v4. "E5" in this case means that it is in the middle of Intel's current stack in terms of features and capabilities, where the "4" signifies use in a 4-socket system. Finally, the "v4" represents the architecture. With this change, a model like the one above would become Intel Xeon Gold 4640, as an example. Regardless, the chips will include support for AVX-512 instructions, QuickAssist and Volume Management Device (VMD) technologies that will take advantage of NVMe solid-state drives. The platform will also support complementary processing engines and IO technologies like Intel FPGAs, Xeon Phi accelerators and Silicon Photonics connectivity. Intel notes the processors will be arriving to market this summer.
Intel didn't "unveil" anything -- they accidentally posted a "product change notification" that listed model numbers for upcoming Skylake Xeon processors, then quickly took it down. What we've learned is that the model numbering system will change, maybe in a way that keeps a similar organization but renames things, and maybe in a way that means substantive changes. We can't tell. In other words, this is semantics. If there's more to be gleaned from the leak, I haven't heard it here.