Overview of Intel Power Management Technology
Intel processors deliver unrivaled out-of-the-box performance, providing network operators and service providers with the power to handle demanding workloads with ease. Their advanced power management features dynamically adjust power levels based on workload intensity, ensuring high performance during critical tasks while reducing power consumption during idle or low-demand periods. Gen-on-gen silicon improvements have increased performance and power efficiency helping service providers cut energy costs without compromising throughput, latency, or system responsiveness. Intel continues to work with our ecosystem of partners to ensure the availability of end-user solutions so all our customers can benefit from these features.
For more information on Intel Power Management Technologies read this document, continue to the next sections of this page or contact your local intel representative for more information.
Power Management Features
C States
Intel C-states are power-saving states that allow the processor to reduce its activity and power consumption when the system is idle. These states range from light to deep sleep modes, with deeper C-states providing greater power savings by shutting down parts of the processor when not in use.
intel_idle CPU Idle Time Management Driver
intel_idle is a part of the CPU idle time management subsystem in the Linux kernel (CPUIdle). It is the default CPU idle time management driver for the Nehalem and later generations of Intel...
Power Management - Dynamic Receive Side to...
Intel provides several CPU power management features that help Communication Service Providers (CoSP) to save their energy consumption when the cores...
P States
Intel P-states are performance states that allow the processor to dynamically adjust its voltage and frequency based on workload demands. This enables power savings by reducing the processor's power consumption during low-demand tasks while maintaining high performance when needed.
intel_pstate CPU Performance Scaling Driver
intel_pstate is a part of the CPU performance scaling subsystem in the Linux kernel (CPUFreq). It is a scaling driver for the Sandy Bridge and later generations of Intel processors...
Power Management – Enhanced Power Management...
This technology guide provides a brief overview of the technology advancements that minimize the impact of power state changes and improve usage in...
Intel® Speed Select Technology
Intel Speed Select Technology allows processors to dynamically adjust their performance characteristics, such as core frequency and power limits, to optimize workloads based on specific application needs. This enables more flexible and efficient resource allocation, allowing users to balance performance, power consumption, and thermal constraints in real-time.
Intel® Speed Select Technology User Guide
The Intel® Speed Select Technology (Intel® SST) provides a powerful new collection of features that give more granular control over CPU performance...
Intel® Speed Select Technology - Core Power...
This document describes how Intel® Speed Select Technology – Core Power (Intel® SST-CP) offers dynamic prioritization of CPU core power/frequency...
Intel® Speed Select Technology – Performance...
This document describes the Intel® Speed Select Technology – Performance Profile (Intel® SST-PP), and how to configure it on 3rd Generation...
Turbo
Intel Turbo Boost is a technology that allows processors to automatically increase their clock speed above the base frequency to improve performance during demanding tasks. It dynamically adjusts the processor's power and thermal limits to deliver extra performance when needed, ensuring optimal efficiency without compromising system stability.
What Is Intel® Turbo Boost Technology?
CPUs don’t always need to run at their maximum frequency. Some programs are more dependent on memory to run smoothly, while others are CPU-intensive...
Intel® Turbo Boost Technology - Configure Per...
Intel® Turbo Boost Technology enables the turbo frequency range for all processor cores of the system, which lets the cores of the processor to run...
Uncore
Intel uncore refers to the components of the processor that are not part of the core, including the memory controller, cache, and interconnects. These components play a critical role in managing data flow and system performance, supporting the cores by efficiently handling tasks like memory access and communication between different processor units.
Intel® Xeon® 6 Processors – Performance and...
With the following generation of Intel® Xeon® processors—the Intel® Xeon® 6900/6700-series processors with E-cores and Intel® Xeon®...
4th Gen Intel® Xeon® Scalable Processor XCC...
‘Uncore’ roughly equates to logic outside the CPU cores but residing on the same die. Traffic (for example, Data Reads) generated by threads...
Power Saving Solutions
For more information on solutions that leverage Intel's Power Management Technology please browse the documents below:
Dynamically Tune Intel® CPUs to Maximize Network...
The massive growth in 5G data traffic continues, with a projected increase in global monthly average usage per smartphone from 19 GB in 2023 to 46 GB...
Elastic and Energy Proportional Edge Computing...
The impact of global warming can be summarized colloquially as 'Weather on Steroids' - more flooding, more droughts, and an increase in natural...
Power Management – Leveraging AI for Smarter...
QiO’s Foresight Optima DC+™ solution learns workload usage patterns across a data center by leveraging 3rd Gen Intel® Xeon® Scalable processor...
Intel® Infrastructure Power Manager
As well as the power management solutions our ecosystem of partners make available for our processors, Intel have also developed Intel® Infrastructure Power Manager (IPM). IPM is a software solution that leverages our CPU power technologies mentioned on this page providing another way to smartly manage power for modern data centers. Read this section to find out more.
The Intel® Infrastructure Power Manager is a power management software solution designed to enhance power provisioning, power efficiency and performance across Intel® CPU-based infrastructures. Acting as a single, comprehensive tool, it intelligently manages power consumption and performance, ensuring optimal energy use without compromising on system Key Performance Indicators. Intel® Infrastructure Power Manager provides a unified interface for controlling and monitoring power-related features, making it an essential component for modern data centers and network operations. It supports bare metal, containerized, and VM-based environments, ensuring flexibility and scalability.
For more information on Intel® Infrastructure Power Manager please contact your local intel representative.
- Dynamic Power Efficiency: Automatically adjusts CPU power consumption and performance levels in real-time, for active and idle cores, aligning with current workload demands to maximize energy efficiency.
- Performance-Oriented: Maintains Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) while simultaneously delivering power savings.
- Comprehensive Power Provisioning: Offers fine-grained control over CPU operating frequencies and power states, allowing for tailored power management configurations.
- Enhanced Power Savings: Delivers power savings across active and idle infrastructure.
- Maintained Performance Standards: Ensures that critical performance metrics such as throughput and latency are preserved while optimizing power use.
- Reduced Environmental Impact: Lowers carbon emissions and operational costs by minimizing unnecessary power consumption.
- Simplified Power Management: Provides a centralized solution for managing power across diverse Intel® CPU platforms, reducing complexity and improving operational efficiency.
- Future-Ready Scalability: Easily integrates into existing systems and supports next-generation network deployments.
Intel® Infrastructure Power Manager for 5G Core is a cloud-native software solution designed to dynamically manage per-core power states in real time, helping communication service providers (CoSPs) reduce energy costs across their User plane and Control plane workloads. The IPM delivers significant power savings without compromising critical 5G network performance metrics. The software uses granular telemetry and intelligent algorithms to adjust CPU frequency and power usage based on live traffic workloads. This innovation aligns with Intel’s broader sustainability goals, supporting CoSPs in meeting Net Zero targets while maintaining high network efficiency and throughput.
For more information read the feature brief
Dynamic Power Savings in Cloud-Native 5G
Last Updated: 09 Mar 2023
SK Telecom and Intel developed a dynamic power saving mechanism for wireless packet core networks which adjusts CPU frequencies in real time.
Intel-Dell Verified Reference Configuration for...
Last Updated: 11 Feb 2025
This White paper details Intel-Dell 5G Core delivering 930 Gbps throughput with 38.4% power savings, optimized for 5G core workloads on Intel Xeon 6...
Nokia utilizes Intel technology to drive greater 5G...
Last Updated: 09 May 2025
Nokia and Intel today announced that they are targeting greater energy efficiency improvements in 5G networks by using Xeon processors and power management software from...
How Nokia and Intel boost performance and save power...
Last Updated: 09 May 2025
All communications service providers face what we might call the ‘network energy paradox’ – that is, despite traffic in networks being highly variable, with frequent peaks...
