As part of the Intel platform vision for architectural innovation, Intel is researching an Energy-Efficient System Architecture (EESA). EESA is a collection of technologies and architectural improvements that together will result in dramatically higher performance per watt for systems across market segments from small form factor to high performance servers. This research is concentrated on improving the power profile of Intel components, taking a systems approach to designing power efficient platforms, and collaborating with industry partners and customers to develop broader energy-efficient system solutions.

Fine Grain Power Management

At the core of EESA research, Fine-Grain Power Management is an effort to gain more precise control of power and performance across the platform. With precise power management embedded throughout the platform, performance can be maximized while power usage is precisely optimized for the workload. FGPM is the architectural foundation of Intel's research in creating dramatic improvements in energy-efficiency for systems whether small or large.

Power Delivery	back to top

EESA is researching methods to increase the efficiency of how power is delivered from the source to the place where actual computing is done, also referred to as “wall to workload.” Repeated power conversions and inefficient design in current systems result in delivery efficiency as low as 50%, meaning half of all power usage is wasted before supporting the workload. Intel is developing methods to improve power delivery to the platform and how to achieve power conversion efficiency targeting 90%.

Visibility and Control	back to top

All around a system is information that is useful in determining the best power management policies. Under Visibility and Control, Intel is researching how various environmental sensors, as well as other system information can be delivered and used to achieve the most energy-efficient platform. Sensing and analyzing both external and internal information allows the platform to make better decisions about the use of energy.

I/O Optimization	back to top

To maximize energy-efficiency across the system, the platform needs to coordinate with external devices to make sure that workload resources are used in an efficient way. Many I/O devices on a system require constant attention by the platform to function properly. The I/O Optimization research is focused on finding new ways to reduce external interfaces' constant dependency on the chipset, thereby allowing the platform to reduce power and increasing overall system performance per watt.

Power Management Policy	back to top

The components of EESA provide the tools to maximize performance per watt on the system. To make the best use of those tools, Intel is researching Power Management Policies that are designed to look at all available information, and make the best use of system resources to maximize performance when necessary, while minimizing power usage whenever possible. The Power Management Policy is the key intelligence in the EESA definition to achieve dramatic improvements in performance per watt.

 

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Windows Server 2008