Intel is looking to modernize data centers with its new Xeon server chips

Intel Corp. unveiled its latest microprocessor for corporate computing rooms, a new version of its Xeon chip that the company said offers up to three times the performance of prior models. The company said its new Xeon E5-2600 v3, which comes in 26 variations, offers a series of enhancements that include core circuitry for up to 18 processors, compared with 12 processor cores in prior Xeons. Intel since the 1990s has turned the x86 chip design that evolved from personal computers—also used by Advanced Micro Devices Inc. –into the overwhelming favorite for servers. The company’s share of shipments of server chips stood at 97.8% in the second quarter, according to Mercury Research. With further market-share gains in servers difficult, Intel is eager to take on other jobs in data centers. The company hopes to replace special-purpose networking and data-storage hardware with software applications running on Xeon chips—a trend called “software-defined infrastructure” that backers say can reduce costs and allow new applications to be deployed more quickly.