The News: In selecting their microprocessor architecture, by choosing a path of architectural consistency, we believe organizations must prioritize avoiding hidden costs and complexity. From our perspective, architectural inconsistencies, such as running x86 and Arm in parallel, inevitably trigger increased costs, unanticipated headcount expansion, and the requirement for an entirely separate support structure. Read the Intel Press Release here.
Intel x86 Architecture: Architectural Consistency – The Best Assurance in Avoiding Costly New Support Structures
Analyst Take: Semiconductor architecture is the synthesis of hardware and software – the more elegant, the better. It can blend the best transistors for a given engine, connects them through advanced packaging, integrates high-bandwidth, low-power caches, and equips them with high-capacity, high-bandwidth memories, and low-latency scalable interconnects for hybrid computing clusters in a package, while also assuring that all software accelerates unimpeded.
As such, we advocate that architectural consistency is essential to managing and assuring cost containment, especially in avoiding the immense expense of adding new support structures. Keeping this principle in mind, we find that Intel is making the x86 architecture shifts and upgrades critical to maintaining architectural consistency.
Specifically, Intel’s execution of portfolio-wide innovations and enhancements assures performance hybrid architecture consistency. This includes new 13th Gen Intel Core mobile processors which are designed to deliver improved performance and experiences across mobile platforms such as laptops, Intel Thread Director workload scheduler, 4th Gen Xeon Scalable processors providing Intel’s breakthrough data center architecture through new Performance-core and accelerator engines, new discrete gaming GPU architecture, IPU updates, and data center GPU architecture innovations.
We see Intel’s constant improvements of x86 core performance (Performance-core) delivers the step function in CPU architecture vital to powering the next decade of compute. It is designed natively as a wider, deeper, and smarter architecture to expose more parallelism, increase execution parallelism, decrease latency, and improve general purpose performance as well as augment massive data and large code footprint applications.
In complete alignment, Intel Efficient-core ensures a highly scalable microarchitecture for fulfilling compute requirements across the full spectrum of x86 customer needs, spanning from low-power mobile applications to multi-core microservices. Additionally, Intel Acceleration Engines in combination with high bandwidth memory and software optimizations target significant improvement of performance and power efficiency across designated workloads which can lead to cost savings.
We view Intel’s Thread Director as providing a unique approach to scheduling that was developed to ensure Efficient-cores and Performance-cores interwork seamlessly, intelligently assign workloads from the start and optimize the system real-world performance and efficiency, further strengthening Intel x86 architecture stability. Intel Efficient-core ensures a highly scalable microarchitecture for fulfilling compute requirements across the full spectrum of x86 customer needs, spanning from low-power mobile applications to multi-core microservices.
Intel x86 Architecture: Eliminates Complexity and Saves Support Structure Costs
The adoption path of adding a new microprocessor architecture, such as Arm, to the existing, proven x86 architecture risks disruption of workload distribution across data center environments, including fast-evolving cloud environments that optimize key business imperatives such as distributed workforce optimization, AI/analytics-driven automation, and comprehensive security. The disruption concerns of implementing diverse architectures become more acute in hybrid and multi-cloud fabrics, and the cost and complexities of implementing a cold migration from an existing architecture to an alternative are immense.
As such, preserving existing x86 microprocessor architectural consistency across the cloud ecosystem that is reliable and secure eliminates the need for complicated emulation and cross-integration, frees up developer and workforce time by streamlining development flow, and lowers overall expenses. Equally important, the x86 architecture is attained when the computing environment consists of processor designs from the same vendor. Generational variation from the same processor vendor is easily managed since the architecture is usually consistent from generation to generation. However, mixing microprocessor architectures from different vendors creates more challenges, risks, and cost, across private, public, and hybrid cloud deployments.
Architectural consistency benefits include live migration of virtual machines between Intel-based servers without downtime, avoiding time and cost to revalidate applications for different architectures. As such, applications accelerated by Intel innovations may lose their performance while investments in feature-optimized applications continue to pay off. Intel is the prime example of a provider of a consistent architecture across a full range of systems. Organizations must consider the reality that Intel can reduce system qualification time and accelerate time-to-deployment with Intel Select Solutions.
From our perspective, the most value comes through the x86 architecture that systems from PCs to cloud data centers and from cell base stations to core networks can rely on. Equally important, the architecture must provide a consistent, reliable foundation for code development across cloud and data center environments, providing a consistent architecture for seamless workload migration such as virtual machines.
Key Takeaways: Intel x86 Architecture Comprehensive Performance, Testing, Validation, and Industry Standards Cloud Benefits
We believe the x86 architecture plays an integral role in delivering workload-accelerated solutions for the most important and widely demanded use cases. This includes ensuring system hardware runs proficiently on today’s applications as well as future emerging workloads (e.g., 5G-IoT, AI, Analytics). The x86 architecture plays a pivotal role in streamlining the process of improving the selection of the software and hardware needed for today’s cloud and data center workloads and applications, especially in meeting post-pandemic business demands such as hybrid workforce, AI/analytics, cloud, and security support. The x86 architecture empowers businesses to make the best purchasing decisions in selecting cloud and data center solutions, and specifically decisions that improve business outcomes across their cloud, network, and IT environments.
Moreover, the x86 architecture already has the largest footprint in public and private clouds, providing testament to the trust and long-standing relationship between Intel and the ecosystem. As long as the x86 architecture delivers the performance, features, security and reliability required, total cost and IT complexity will be reduced by keeping the infrastructure consistent. And that’s the primary objective.
Disclosure: The Futurum Group is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.
Analysis and opinions expressed herein are specific to the analyst individually and data and other information that might have been provided for validation, not those of The Futurum Group as a whole.
Other insights from The Futurum Group:
Intel x86 vs. Arm: The Most Important Selection Criterion – New Futurum Research Report
Author Information
Daniel is the CEO of The Futurum Group. Living his life at the intersection of people and technology, Daniel works with the world’s largest technology brands exploring Digital Transformation and how it is influencing the enterprise.
From the leading edge of AI to global technology policy, Daniel makes the connections between business, people and tech that are required for companies to benefit most from their technology investments. Daniel is a top 5 globally ranked industry analyst and his ideas are regularly cited or shared in television appearances by CNBC, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal and hundreds of other sites around the world.
A 7x Best-Selling Author including his most recent book “Human/Machine.” Daniel is also a Forbes and MarketWatch (Dow Jones) contributor.
An MBA and Former Graduate Adjunct Faculty, Daniel is an Austin Texas transplant after 40 years in Chicago. His speaking takes him around the world each year as he shares his vision of the role technology will play in our future.
Ron is an experienced, customer-focused research expert and analyst, with over 20 years of experience in the digital and IT transformation markets, working with businesses to drive consistent revenue and sales growth.
Ron holds a Master of Arts in Public Policy from University of Nevada — Las Vegas and a Bachelor of Arts in political science/government from William and Mary.
