Game-changing Capability for Your Data Center and a Solid Foundation for Your Cloud

Game-changing Capability for Your Data Center and a Solid Foundation for Your Cloud Microsoft Windows Server* 2012 and the Intel Xeon processor E5 family White Paper Intel Xeon Processor E5 Family Microsoft Windows Server* 2012 Executive Summary Cloud computing offers transformative value for today s IT organizations and the businesses they support. Advanced automation and dense shared infrastructure allow organizations to deploy and manage services more quickly and cost-effectively. Cloud solutions also provide the elastic scalability needed for addressing today s rapidly increasing IT challenges. Yet transforming today s data centers into optimized, next-generation private cloud environments presents complex challenges. Working together, Intel and Microsoft have been delivering foundational cloud capabilities through multiple product generations to help IT organizations negotiate this transition more easily and with reduced cost and risk. Microsoft Windows Server* 2012 delivers another major step forward, taking advantage of Microsoft s experience in building and operating public clouds to deliver a highly dynamic, available, and cost-effective server platform for a private cloud. This new operating system enables enterprises and cloud service providers to establish scalable, dynamic and multi-tenant-aware cloud infrastructures so they can connect securely across premises and respond to business needs faster and more efficiently. Servers based on the latest Intel Xeon processor E5 family offer an exceptionally powerful, energyefficient and reliable foundation for Windows Server 2012. They include a number of integrated technologies that specifically address the needs of today s increasingly dense and demanding cloud implementations. The combined platform provides robust support for the full range of enterprise deployment models from traditional dedicated infrastructure to hybrid cloud computing all in one of the world s most open and cost-effective computing environments. With the addition of Microsoft System Center 2012 Service Pack 1, IT organizations can implement a complete private cloud solution. They can also monitor and control both traditional and cloud infrastructures using consistent, familiar, and automated tools. At a time of transformative and potentially disruptive change, Intel and Microsoft are uniquely positioned to help enterprise IT organizations simplify and accelerate their evolution toward next-generation computing models. This white paper outlines some of the challenges that lie ahead and describes how the combined platform addresses them. It also describes some of the most important features provided by Windows Server 2012 and the Intel Xeon processor E5 family, and how the two companies have collaborated to provide a smooth, cost-effective pathway to the cloud.

Table of Contents Tough Challenges, Extraordinary Opportunities....3 Transition to the Cloud with Confidence....4 Integrate Cloud Functionality on Your Own Timeline....4 Add Flexibility and Efficiency with Each New Server....5 Build Your Cloud on a Trusted Platform....7 Lay the Foundation with Flexible, High-Performance Server Virtualization....7 Virtualize and Consolidate Your Network for Cost-Effective Growth....8 Ramp up Your Storage Capacity while Driving Down Costs....8 Virtualize Everything for Higher Value....9 Reduce Your Operating Costs through Platform-Wide Energy Efficiency....9 Protect Your Investment with Innovation You Can Trust.... 10 Conclusion... 10 2

Tough Challenges, Extraordinary Opportunities The computing industry is at a crossroads that will ultimately impact businesses across every sector. For many years, IT organizations have deployed dedicated physical servers for each individual workload in the data center. That approach is no longer viable, because of the large number of enterprise workloads that must be supported in today s data centers. Dedicated physical servers lead to underutilization, which drives up infrastructure costs, space and power consumption, and operational complexity. Virtualization has enabled a new generation of data centers in which multiple workloads can run on larger and more powerful servers to improve utilization and reduce space and power requirements. Cloud solutions take virtualization to the next level, by treating compute, network, and storage resources as flexible pools that can be allocated to any workload. With this approach, the data center becomes completely dynamic and logical workloads can be fully decoupled from physical infrastructure. Automated management tools replace slow, manual processes, enabling faster and more efficient service delivery and better utilization of limited resources (Figure 1). The efficiency of cloud computing will become increasingly important as IT requirements continue to expand. IDC projects 44X growth in enterprise data volumes for the decade ending in 2020. 1 New analytics solutions have emerged that enable businesses to analyze massive volumes of structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data and inject insights back into decision-making processes in real time or near real time. A few industry leaders are already taking advantage of these capabilities to gain insight into their customers, markets, and operations. As data volumes grow and other businesses move to implement next-generation analytics, the elastic scalability of private and hybrid cloud solutions will be essential to keep pace with these growing big-data demands. We re excited about the launch of the Intel Xeon processor E5 family. The combination of Microsoft Windows Server, Microsoft Hyper-V software and the Intel Xeon processor E5 family provides a solid foundation for cloud computing, now and in the future. Mike Schutz, General Manager, Product Marketing Server and Infrastructure, Windows Server and Management Marketing, Microsoft The Evolution of the Data Center POTENTIAL TO SCALE Server virtualization Cloud TRADITIONAL DEDICATED SERVER SERVER WITH VIRTUALIZATION CAPABILITIES WINDOWS SERVER* 2012 Characteristics Dedicated servers No virtualization Server virtualization Shared compute, storage, network Multi-tenancy and isolation Converged network fabric Hybrid clouds Benefits Hardware isolation Server consolidation Some scale-out Heterogeneous server hardware Efficient infrastructure utilization Automatic deployment/migration of apps/vms and services Scaling of network/storage Figure 1. Microsoft Windows Server* 2012 on Intel Xeon processor-based servers provides a flexible, high-value foundation for solving current data center challenges, while moving in a controlled fashion to take advantage of the agility and efficiencies of public, private, and hybrid cloud computing. 3

Nevertheless, most businesses remain cautious about cloud computing. IT managers want safe, proven solutions, yet cloud technologies and standards are still evolving. How can IT ensure security and compliance for data and applications on shared infrastructure? What workloads should be hosted where, and how can current and future cloud solutions be integrated with existing in-house solutions? How can IT be sure their cloud choices won t limit workload mobility and business agility going forward? Intel and Microsoft offer solutions that help businesses transition existing data centers into private clouds today. Windows Server* 2012 and the Intel Xeon processor E5 family provide a cloud-optimized computing platform that supports both traditional and private cloud deployments within a unified operating, management, and security framework. There is no need to deploy costly, proprietary cloud technologies. IT organizations can scale and adapt existing solutions while transitioning their data centers toward advanced cloud functionality in a controlled, non-disruptive, and cost-effective fashion. Transition to the Cloud with Confidence With every recent product generation, Intel and Microsoft have improved the performance, scalability, reliability and manageability of Windows Server running on Intel Xeon processor-based platforms for both traditional and virtualized deployments. Windows Server 2012 running on the latest Intel Xeon processor E5 family-based servers offers another major step forward, delivering game-changing new efficiencies and an optimized platform for private and hybrid cloud computing. With the addition of Microsoft System Center 2012 SP1, customers can implement a complete private cloud solution (see the sidebar, Comprehensive Cloud Management). With this new platform, IT organizations can: Scale and extend existing data center solutions. Windows Server 2012 on Intel Xeon processor-based servers provides improvements in performance, scalability, reliability, and manageability for existing workloads whether they are deployed on dedicated physical servers or in virtual machines based on Microsoft Server 2012 Hyper-V* or other hypervisor technologies. The combined platform also delivers improvements in energy efficiency and manageability to help contain costs and improve operational efficiency and agility. Begin moving incrementally toward the efficiencies of private cloud computing. Hyper-V and Intel Xeon processor-based servers provide the scalable performance needed to virtualize the full range of enterprise applications. Once workloads are virtualized, advanced cloud automation can be implemented as desired using Microsoft System Center 2012 SP1 while keeping sensitive assets behind the corporate firewall. Comprehensive Cloud Management Microsoft System Center 2012 SP1 Windows Server* 2012 and Intel Xeon processor-based servers provide the foundation for a private cloud infrastructure. Microsoft System Center 2012 SP1 builds on this foundation by adding advanced cloud management capabilities. It allows IT organizations to use a consistent set of tools to manage applications and infrastructure across multiple sites and across physical, virtual and cloud computing implementations. With this support, businesses gain dynamic control of workloads within their data center. They can also scale those workloads onto public clouds, while maintaining a common management and security framework to reduce cost, risk, and complexity. Integrate flexibly and securely with external cloud resources. Windows Server 2012 helps IT organizations maintain a consistent framework for building, deploying, managing, and securing their IT environment across multiple data centers and across traditional, virtual, and cloud deployments. Intel and Microsoft are committed to delivering an open platform that supports secure cross-premises connectivity. Integrate Cloud Functionality on Your Own Timeline Microsoft Windows Server 2012 delivers a wide range of new and enhanced functionality. Many new features reflect Microsoft s experience in implementing and managing some of today s most advanced cloud environments, including Microsoft Office* 365, Hotmail,* Windows Live Messenger,* Bing,* Windows Azure,* and Xbox LIVE.* Microsoft has used its experiences in running these cloud services to improve Windows Server 2012 so it provides a solid foundation for deploying a private cloud. A full description of new features is beyond the scope of this paper, but a few of the many highlights include: Support for multi-tenant environments. Microsoft Windows Server 2012 enables secure isolation of workloads across servers, networks, and storage systems, so sensitive applications can be safely hosted on shared infrastructure. It also supports guaranteed service level agreements (SLAs), automated resource metering for chargeback based on usage, and self-service IT for business units (Figure 2). Dynamic resource control for performance optimization and business continuity. Support for live storage migration has been added and support for live migration of virtual machines has been improved. Migrations are faster and multiple virtual machines within a cluster can be moved simultaneously. IT organizations can build on this support to implement load-balancing and failover within and across 4

Introducing Hyper-V* Network Virtualization Hyper-V Network Virtualization Run multiple virtual networks on a physical network Each virtual network has the illusion it is running as a physical fabric The Hyper-V Extensible Switch enables visibility across virtual networks for strong security and compliance Virtual Machine Network Application Virtual NIC Virtual Machine Network Application Virtual NIC Hyper-V Extensible Switch Virtual Machine Network Application Virtual NIC Physical NIC Physical Switch Figure 2. Microsoft Server 2012 Hyper-V* on Intel Xeon processor-based servers provides complete support for network virtualization to enable flexible resource utilization with quality of service (QoS) assurances and secure isolation of traffic in dynamic, multi-tenant cloud environments. sites to provide elastic scalability and business continuity. Sharednothing live migration is also supported to enable high availability without the complexity of server clustering. Streamlined and simplified management. Advanced automation using Windows PowerShell* 3.0 allows administrators to control virtually all aspects of the operating system. PowerShell has been greatly expanded, with over 2,300 new cmdlets and integration into every server role. Workflows are supported, so scripts can now run to completion even in the event of network outages, server reboots, and other disruptions. By automating common tasks, administrators can manage multiple servers as easily as one to improve service levels and security while reducing operational costs. More efficient and effective security and compliance. Microsoft Dynamic Access Control, a new technology in Windows Server 2012, allows IT organizations to centrally deploy and manage file authorization policies to protect sensitive information. Authorization polices are created and hosted in Active Directory* and can include conditional expressions based on user claims, device claims, and resource properties. This simplifies management and provides IT with more granular control for supporting compliance and business regulatory requirements. Better and more affordable storage solutions. Windows Server 2012 provides important enhancements for both storage area networks (SANs) and file-based storage solutions. IT organizations can use technologies such as virtual fibre channel and offloaded data transfers to improve flexibility and performance for existing SAN implementations. They can also take advantage of new file-based storage capabilities, such as network adapter teaming and transparent failover. With these and other improvements, file-based storage can now be used to support demanding workloads such as Hyper-V and SQL Server,* which have traditionally required more costly and complex SAN storage. Add Flexibility and Efficiency with Each New Server The Intel Xeon processor E5 family magnifies the benefits of Windows Server 2012 by providing an exceptionally powerful, energy-efficient and reliable foundation for cloud computing. The latest Intel Xeon processor generation delivers substantial improvements in performance versus the prior generation, providing gains of up to 80 percent in comparison with the previous-generation Intel Xeon processor 5600 series. 2 5

Intel is focused on energy efficiency as well as performance, and these new processors improve energy efficiency by 50 percent versus the prior generation 3 to help reduce power and cooling costs across the data center. A number of built-in technologies dynamically balance performance versus energy efficiency to deliver highest performance when most needed while reducing energy consumption at all other operating points. One example is Intel Turbo Boost Technology 4 2.0, which increases processor frequencies to take advantage of power and thermal headroom. This second-generation technology provides more and higher performance boosts, along with greater intelligence to improve overall energy efficiency. Dense cloud environments place heavy demands on server I/O resources and the Intel Xeon processor E5 family is designed to ensure fast data flow and responsive performance as workloads continue to grow. Intel Integrated I/O merges the I/O controller into the processor to improve performance and simplify implementation. It supports the Peripheral Component Interconnect Express 3.0 (PCIe 3.0) specification which provides twice the I/O bandwidth 5 of PCIe 2.0. It also reduces latency by up to 30 percent. 6 Intel Data Direct I/O Technology (Intel DDIO) provides additional I/O performance gains. This integrated technology can more than double I/O performance 7 in some scenarios by enabling data to be transferred directly from Intel Ethernet controllers and adapters to processor cache. High-speed data transfers not only decrease latency, but also improve energy efficiency by enabling memory to stay in a lower power state. A number of additional technologies are built into the processor and platform to solve emerging challenges in demanding cloud environments. A key example is Intel Advanced Encryption Standard New Instructions 8 (Intel AES-NI), which accelerates performance for AES-based encryption and decryption. With this support, IT organizations can implement encryption pervasively to protect data more effectively as its moved on to shared infrastructure, without slowing application responsiveness or overloading servers. Optimize Your Cloud across All Workloads As IT organizations move toward end-to-end virtualization and cloud computing, flexible server configurations remain essential to address diverse workload requirements in the most costeffective manner. With the launch of the Intel Xeon processor E5-4600 product family, Intel offers even more options for optimizing capability versus cost across all needs. Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 product family Leading performance and energy efficiency in two-socket server configurations that are ideal for most mainstream enterprise workloads. Intel Xeon processor E5-4600 product family Efficient, density-optimized four-socket server designs support heavier workloads and higher consolidation ratios. Intel Xeon processor E7 family Highest scalability and reliability for mission-critical workloads and large-scale consolidation. Intel Xeon processor E3-1200 v2 product family Excellent performance, efficiency, and data security for small business needs, with optimized low-power designs for micro server implementations (micro servers are ideal for lightweight scale-out of non-enterprise applications). To support diverse workloads on unified cloud infrastructure, Intel has increased the breadth of its server processor offerings. The recent launch of the Intel Xeon processor E5-4600 product family extends support to a new generation of high-value, density-optimized, foursocket servers that deliver up to 83 percent higher performance than a comparable server based on the Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 product family. 9 This gives IT organizations more options for optimizing cost versus capability, while maintaining a single pool of virtualized resources (see the sidebar, Optimize Your Cloud across All Workloads). 6

Build Your Cloud on a Trusted Platform Intel and Microsoft have been working together for more than 20 years to ensure their technology roadmaps are aligned to deliver exceptional value to customers across their server, storage, and networking infrastructure. Considerable resources are devoted to understanding future needs and addressing them through jointly engineered solutions. This allows IT organizations to take advantage of embedded capabilities to address new issues as they arise in their data centers. Intel and Microsoft engineers collaborate extensively to ensure that each new Microsoft software generation is fully optimized to take advantage of innovations in the latest Intel hardware. The value of these efforts is seen in higher performance, energy efficiency, reliability, and security across a wide range of applications and environments. Windows Server 2012 builds on this foundation by providing strong support for the latest silicon-based technologies available in the Intel Xeon processor E5 family. As described in the sections that follow, close collaboration between Intel and Microsoft engineering teams helped to deliver a number of capabilities that provide high value in today s virtualized data centers and clouds (Table 1). Lay the Foundation with Flexible, High-Performance Server Virtualization Virtualization provides the foundation for cloud computing. Once workloads are virtualized, advanced cloud automation can be added to streamline operations and improve agility. Intel Virtualization Technology 10 (Intel VT) enables flexible, secure, high-performance virtualization by providing extensive hardware assists for core virtualization functions. Intel VT is extended in each new processor generation and Hyper-V is tuned to take advantage of these enhancements. The result is a virtual environment that enables near-native performance for enterprise workloads and supports live migration across multiple server generations. As IT organizations consolidate more and heavier workloads on each physical system, I/O bandwidth requirements increase dramatically. As already discussed, the Intel Xeon processor E5 family provides major Table 1. Technology integration in Windows Server* 2012 and the Intel Xeon processor E5 family Intel Technology Microsoft Technology Benefit Intel Virtualization Technology 10 Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V* Ongoing optimization enables near-native performance in Hyper-V virtual (Intel VT) machines with improved scalability, reliability and workload isolation. Large, multi-processor server Windows Server 2012 configurations Physical platform support for 320 logical processors, 4 TB memory, 1024 virtual processors. Virtual machine (VM) support for 64 virtual processors, 1 TB memory, 64 TB virtual disk size. Cluster support for 64 nodes, 4,000 VMs Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) SMB 3.0 and Hyper-V storage live migration Intel integration and Microsoft support for: Intel Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (Intel VT-d) Intel Virtualization Technology for Connectivity (Intel VT-c) Virtual Machine Device Queues (VMDq) Dynamic Virtual Machine Queues (DVMq) PCI-SIG Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV) Receive Side Scaling (RSS) support Intel Ethernet with Data Center Bridging (DCB) SR-IOV Virtual Function failover and live migration support Auto-detects RSS-capable network adapters Hyper-V over SMB 3.0 Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) and iscsi software initiators with Intel Ethernet intelligent offloads Logical processor idling Enhancements to core parking in Windows Server mode Dramatically improved scalability at all levels for virtualizing and consolidating demanding, enterprise workloads (versus Windows Server* 2008 R2). Improves the efficiency of data transfers. Among other advantages, RDMA enables fast live storage migration with lower processor overhead. Direct virtual-machine-to-network-adapter connections with flexible sharing of bandwidth and traffic isolation among multiple virtual machines. Packet routing is handled by the Intel Ethernet Controller queues enabled by VMDq. Packets are sorted and directed to each VM, allowing concurrent receive processing for multiple VMs. Supports direct device assignment to virtual machines without compromising flexibility. Speeds processing of incoming network traffic in many scenarios. Use of cost-effective file-server storage to deliver high-end SAN storage capabilities. Consolidation of server and SAN storage traffic onto a single, high-performance network. Improved energy efficiency with the ability to idle or throttle individual processor cores. 7

increases in I/O bandwidth to address this need. Windows Server 2012 and Intel Ethernet Converged Network Adapters extend these advantages to the network connection by providing integrated support for several key technologies, including Intel Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (Intel VT-d) and Intel Virtualization Technology for Connectivity (Intel VT-c). Intel VT-C includes support for both Virtual Machine Device Queues (VMDq) and the PCI-SIG Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV) specification, which Intel helped to develop. With these technologies, Windows Server 2012 and Hyper-V enable IT organizations to: Virtualize and consolidate network-intensive applications without sacrificing performance. Direct connections can be configured between virtual machines and network adapters and packet-sorting is offloaded from the hypervisor to silicon in the network adapter. This eliminates the latency and processing overhead associated with hypervisor-based routing. Flexibly allocate network bandwidth. A single physical adapter can be used to support multiple virtual machines to increase utilization, reduce costs, and optimize performance in complex environments. Windows Server 2012 also provides quality of service (QoS) features that IT organizations can use to provide bandwidth assurances for key workloads. Securely isolate network traffic. Silicon-based I/O virtualization provides strong isolation of communications between virtual machines and network adapters to enable more secure multitenancy. Networks can be virtualized and workloads can be moved to other clouds without changing virtual network assignments or IP addresses. Virtualize and Consolidate Your Network for Cost-Effective Growth Networks must be powerful, flexible and efficient to support the demands of today s dynamic cloud environments. Intel and Microsoft address this need with a number of key technologies. Increase network bandwidth throughout the data center. 10 Gigabit Intel Ethernet Converged Network Adapters provide lowlatency, high-bandwidth support for growing network requirements. Consolidate server and storage networks to simplify growth. Windows Server 2012 and Intel Ethernet Converged Network Adapters enable Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) and iscsi so local area network (LAN) and storage traffic can be consolidated onto a single Ethernet network. IT organizations can simplify their data center networks and substantially reduce hardware costs. Enhancements in Windows Server 2012 enable sharing of physical Fibre Channel ports among multiple virtual machines for additional flexibility and savings. Secure virtual networks to reduce risk and improve compliance. Traditional network monitoring solutions typically rely on physical switches or hard-wired security devices. With network virtualization, traffic between virtual machines often bypasses these physical devices. The resulting blind spots can create security and compliance issues. Microsoft Windows Server 2012 solves this with the Hyper-V Extensible Switch, which, in combination with third-party plug-ins, can emulate the full capabilities of hardware-based switches in a virtual environment. Ramp up Your Storage Capacity while Driving Down Costs SANs deliver the fast performance and continuous availability needed for server applications in cloud environments, but they do so at high cost and with considerable complexity. Windows Server 2012 improves flexibility and performance for existing SANs. It also includes Server Messaging Block (SMB) 3.0, which allows organizations to achieve comparable benefits by layering feature-rich, SAN-like storage functionality on top of inexpensive disk arrays. Affordable file servers become virtualized resource pools that can be provisioned on-demand to address high-end storage requirements. The Windows Server 2012 File and Storage Services server role enables transparent storage failover and improved network performance and resiliency, along with advanced management automation through Windows PowerShell. This new set of file server features provides important improvements for supporting demanding server applications, such as Microsoft SQL Server and Hyper-V. Gigabit and 10 Gigabit Intel Ethernet adapters take advantage of the SMB multichannel feature, which allows aggregation of network bandwidth and network fault tolerance when multiple storage paths are available. SMB Direct can also be used with NetEffect Ethernet Server Cluster Adapters from Intel. These adapters include Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) capabilities to enable extremely fast data transfers and live storage migrations. Windows Server 2012 provides integrated support for a number of additional advanced storage technologies, including data deduplication across local and remote storage arrays, thin provisioning, and trim, all of 8

which help to improve storage utilization and reduce costs. Windows Server 2012 also supports storage offload (ODX), so IT organizations can take advantage of advanced capabilities in today s intelligent, Intel Xeon processor-based storage arrays. A key example is array-based replication, which provides high-speed storage backups with almost no impact on production environments. Virtualize Everything for Higher Value Windows Server 2012 and Intel Xeon processor-based servers provide a scalable and resilient foundation for virtualizing the full range of enterprise workloads. Scale your virtual machines to support demanding workloads. Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V supports virtual machines with up to 64 virtual processors and 1 terabyte of memory. IT organizations can virtualize and consolidate demanding workloads, including highvolume transactional applications and large databases. Scale your physical servers for higher consolidation ratios. Windows Server 2012 supports up to 320 logical processors and 4 terabytes of memory per physical server, so it can scale to support today s largest Intel Xeon processor-based servers. Integrated support for non-uniform memory access (NUMA) allows more efficient allocation of memory resources in multi-core environments. Each core can take advantage of nearby memory, which is faster, yet can also access other memory locations as needed. This capability can significantly improve application performance and scalability for data-intensive applications running on large servers. Ensure high availability. Windows Server 2012 and the Intel Xeon processor E5 family provide integrated support for high availability. Error management and failover clustering have been improved and network adapter teaming is supported to eliminate physical network connections as a single-point-of-failure. With these and other enhancements, the combined platform is well suited for workloads that require high levels of uptime. For virtualizing and consolidating truly mission-critical workloads, IT organizations can take advantage of servers based on the Intel Xeon processor E7 family (see the sidebar, Breakthrough Value for Mission-Critical Solutions). Reduce Your Operating Costs through Platform-Wide Energy Efficiency Infrastructure growth and rising utility costs make energy efficiency increasingly important in large-scale computing environments. Intel and Microsoft collaborate to improve energy efficiency with each new product generation. A number of new features in Windows Server 2012 and the Intel Xeon processor E5 family work together to provide improved power management. Examples include: Breakthrough Value for Mission-Critical Solutions SQL Server* 2012 on Intel Xeon processor E7 family-based servers As we enter the new era of big data, enterprise IT organizations face daunting challenges as they work to store, manage, and mine massive data sets. SQL Server* 2012 running on foursocket and larger Intel Xeon processor E7 family-based servers provides a powerful, flexible database and analytics platform for meeting next-generation requirements. The combined platform has demonstrated world record performance using the TPC-E* brokerage firm benchmark score, which simulates the total number of trade-result transactions per second that can be sustained over time. 11 SQL Server 2012 provides a high level of integrated functionality as well tight integration with Microsoft business and end-user applications all of which can help IT organizations manage and utilize data more effectively across the enterprise. Advanced RAS and security features are included throughout the hardware and software solution stack to protect sensitive assets both at rest and in transit. A key example is Intel Machine Check Architecture recovery, which is fully supported by Windows Server* 2012 and SQL Server 2012. Errors are automatically detected, corrected, and contained to enable the highest levels of system uptime and data integrity. To simplify implementation and deliver higher value, the combined platform is now available in pre-integrated, enterprise-class appliances designed to provide extreme performance, scalability, and availability out of the box. These appliances can help IT organizations implement next-generation database and analytics solutions faster and with less risk to keep pace with growing demands. Enhanced energy control throughout the data center. Intel Node Manager 2.0 monitors and reports processor, memory, and systemlevel power consumption and enables Windows Server administrators to set policies for limiting and optimizing consumption. New support for logical processor idling allows more granular control for improved data center power budgeting. These capabilities can help IT organizations increase rack densities, improve uptime, and get higher value from every watt consumed. 9

Ongoing improvements through sophisticated OS kernel optimization. Current collaboration between Intel and Microsoft is focused on analyzing and tuning load line power to improve energy efficiency for major workloads, such as SPECPower*, TPC-E*, and Web Fundamentals*. New optimizations in the Windows Server 2012 kernel help to deliver additional gains in overall energy efficiency across a wide range of operating points. Protect Your Investment with Innovation You Can Trust The optimized cloud foundation provided by Windows Server 2012 running on Intel Xeon processor-based servers is a true game-changer. By integrating advanced cloud technologies directly into a powerful, enterprise-class computing platform, Intel and Microsoft are providing a simpler and more cost-effective path forward. IT organizations can: Use the combined platform for end-to-end computing requirements, all the way from front-end web servers to mission-critical applications and databases. Virtualize and consolidate infrastructure and implement advanced cloud functionality incrementally, without costly and disruptive overhauls, using Microsoft System Center 2012 SP1 or other cloud management tools. Take advantage of public cloud infrastructure to add capacity and functionality as desired, while maintaining a consistent management, security, and compliance framework across all sites and deployment models. Intel and Microsoft are focused on extending these benefits with each new product generation through technology roadmap alignment, engineering collaboration, and an ongoing commitment to ensuring that Windows Server runs best on Intel Xeon processor-based servers. By taking advantage of this rapid innovation on a comprehensive, enterprise-class computing platform, customers can continue to improve service levels, efficiency, and agility, while simultaneously simplifying their journey to the cloud. Conclusion Cloud computing has the potential to truly transform IT service delivery, yet cloud technologies and solutions are still evolving and IT organizations face many challenges as they work to plan and implement a best-fit strategy. Microsoft Windows Server 2012 and servers based on the Intel Xeon processor E5 family provide a foundation for addressing current data center challenges while moving in a controlled and non-disruptive fashion toward the efficiencies of cloud computing. The combined platform provides the scalable performance needed to extend, virtualize, and consolidate existing solutions and to support rapidly growing big data requirements. It also provides an optimized foundation for cloud computing. As IT organizations move forward, they can incrementally and selectively add cloud-based management functionality to improve data center agility and efficiency so they can meet emerging challenges more effectively and at lower total cost. 10

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1 Source: Digital Universe study, conducted by IDC on behalf of EMC, as reported by IT Pro. http://www.itpro.co.uk/622942/idc-data-explosion-goes-into-the-zettabytes. 2 Performance comparison using best published 2-socket server results on the SPECfp*_rate_base2006 benchmark as of 6 March 2012. Baseline score of 271 published by Itautec on the Servidor Itautec MX203* and Servidor Itautec MX223* platforms based on the prior generation Intel Xeon processor X5690. New score of 492 submitted for publication by Dell on the PowerEdge T620 platform and Fujitsu on the PRIMERGY RX300 S7* platform based on the Intel Xeon processor E5-2690. For additional details, please visit http://www.spec.org. 3 Performance comparison using best submitted/published 2-socket single-node server results on the SPECpower_ssj*2008 benchmark as of 6 March 2012. Baseline score of 3,329 ssj*_ops/watt published by Hewlett-Packard on the ProLiant DL360 G7* platform based on the prior generation Intel Xeon processor X5675. Score of 5,093 ssj*_ops/watt submitted for publication by Fujitsu on the PRIMERGY RX300 S7* platform based on the Intel Xeon processor E5-2660. For additional details, please visit http://www.spec.org. 4 Requires a system with Intel Turbo Boost Technology. Intel Turbo Boost Technology and Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 are only available on select Intel processors. Consult your PC manufacturer. Performance varies depending on hardware, software, and system configuration. For more information, visit http://www.intel.com/go/turbo. 5 8 GT/s and 128b/130b encoding in PCIe* 3.0 specification enables double the interconnect bandwidth over the PCIe* 2.0 specification. Source: http://www.pcisig.com/news_room/november_18_2010_press_release/. 6 Intel internal measurements of average time for an I/O device read to local system memory under idle conditions comparing Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 product family (230 ns) vs. Intel Xeon processor 5500 series (340 ns). Baseline Configuration: Green City system with two Intel Xeon processors E5520 (2.26GHz, 4C), 12GB memory @ 1333, C-States Disabled, Turbo Disabled, SMT Disabled. New Configuration: Meridian system with two Intel Xeon processors E5-2665 (2.4GHz, 8C), 32GB memory @1600 MHz, C-States Enabled, Turbo Enabled. The measurements were taken with a LeCroy* PCIe* protocol analyzer using Intel internal Rubicon (PCIe* 2.0) and Florin (PCIe* 3.0) test cards running under Windows* 2008 R2 w/sp1. 7 Source: Internal Intel measurements have shown I/O performance gains of up to 2.3X using Intel Data Direct I/O Technology comparing one-socket SNB data for an L2 forwarding test using 8x10 Gigabit Ethernet ports for the Intel Xeon processor E5 product family versus the Intel Xeon processor 5600 series. 8 Intel AES-NI requires a computer system with an AES-NI enabled processor, as well as non-intel software to execute the instructions in the correct sequence. AES-NI is available on select Intel processors. For availability, consult your reseller or system manufacturer. For more information, see http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-advanced-encryption-standard-instructions-aes-ni/. 9 Up to 83 percent performance gain claim based on best submitted/published 2- and 4-socket server General Purpose Throughput (based on the SPECint*_rate_base2006 benchmark) results comparing the Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 product family to the Intel Xeon processor E5-4600 product family, both at a 130W TDP processor specification as of 14 May 2012. Baseline 2-socket server: 2-socket Fujitsu PRIMERGY* server using two Intel Xeon processors E5-2680 (8C, 20M Cache, 2.7GHz, 8.0GT/s Intel QPI), 128GB memory, Intel C++ Compiler XE2011 (12.1). Baseline Score: 639. Source: http://www.spec.org/cpu2006/results/res2012q1/cpu2006-20120312-19833.html. New 4-socket server: 4-socket populated Dell PowerEdge* R820 server with four Intel Xeon processors E5-4650 (8C, 20M Cache, 2.7GHz, 8.0GT/s Intel QPI), 256GB memory, Intel C++ Compiler XE2011 (12.1). Baseline Score: 1170. Source: submitted to SPEC.org. 10 Intel Virtualization Technology (Intel VT) requires a computer system with an enabled Intel processor, BIOS, virtual machine monitor (VMM) and, for some uses, certain platform software enabled for it. Functionality, performance, or other benefits will vary depending on hardware and software configurations and may require a BIOS update. Software applications may not be compatible with all operating systems. Please check with your application vendor. 11 TPC-E* world record performance claim based on top ranked result of NEC Express*5800/A1080a-E published using eight Intel Xeon processors E7-8870 (8P/80C/160T) scoring 4,614 tpse @ $450.18USD available 4/2/2012 compared to all other results as of May 18, 2012. TPC, TPC-E, and tpse are trademarks of the Transaction Processing Performance Council. For more information, please visit http://www.tpc.org/tpce/default.asp. INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH INTEL PRODUCTS. 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