Intel Rebrands Itself as Premier Cloud CPU
When you use the cloud, do you think about what kind of CPUs and chip sets are in the bare metal servers in your datacenter? If you are using public cloud infrastructure, this probably isn’t a huge concern to you. When you need processing power, RAM and bandwidth, you really don’t care about the vendors; you just want your solution to work. This hasn’t stopped Intel’s marketing team from referring to Intel as a cloud company.
In reality, Intel is pulling off a remarkable branding play. Intel isn’t a true IaaS, PaaS or SaaS cloud solution. However, in an ever evolving market where many companies are essentially offering the same services, these cloud companies will look for ways to differentiate themselves from the rest of the field. Proudly saying that you have “Intel Inside” your cloud is a good way for you to bring in brand loyal Intel clients.
Traditionally Intel has been focusing on desktop CPUs. With this new shift focusing on cloud server CPUs, you can more than likely expect Intel to begin releasing more research and data about why Intel is better than a generic CPU vendor. Hyper threading and virtual machine performance will be some of the key benchmarks that Intel will cite in cloud server performance.
This shift to the cloud for Intel could be the nail in the coffin for the traditional PC market. Intel realizes that it becomes more practical to shift normal everyday computing resources into the cloud for large scale applications as opposed to constantly upgrading your local hardware and software. Intel must realize that they can’t stay in business just focusing on traditional personal computing CPUs as demand for these is dwindling. Intel must focus on being the premier CPU for the cloud. Personal computers of the future could be terminals where applications, games and video on demand are delivered using cloud servers that have “Intel Inside.”
