AMD has officially launched its 7th-generation AMD Pro accelerated processing units (APUs), codename Bristol Ridge Pro, with HP and Lenovo confirmed as early customers.
Designed for use in enterprise desktops and built to compete with rival Intel's vPro-equipped processors, AMD's Bristol Ridge Pro parts are unsurprisingly based on the
recently-announced Bristol Ridge APUs. Like their non-Pro counterparts, the Bristol Ridge Pro chips are built around the new unified AM4 socket and are available in a range of speeds and thermal envelopes. The top-end models hit a peak speed of 3.8GHz (4.2GHz Turbo) in a 65W thermal design profile (TDP) with a 1.1GHz Graphics Core Next (GCN)-based Radeon graphics processor, while a range aimed at smaller form factor devices hits 3.1GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) in a 35W TDP.
The core performance of the chips, however, isn't their primary selling point. Instead, AMD's Pro family is designed to appeal with a range of security-centric features for enterprise users. Each AMD Pro chip comes with an integrated ARM-based '
AMD Secure Processor,' designed to run independent of the main CPU cores for security offload tasks. Each AMD Pro-equipped desktop also includes a Trusted Platform Module 2.0 (TPM 2.0) environment, support for the firmware TPM 2.0 (fTPM 2.0) functionality in Windows 10, and includes full compatibility with Microsoft Device Guard and Windows Hello.
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In the past two years we made incredible progress in the commercial client segment. Since its inception in mid-2014, AMD PRO processor unit shipments increased more than 45 percent, enabling businesses all over the world to simplify IT with secure, high performance, reliable solutions,' crowed Jim Anderson, senior vice president and general manager of AMD's Computing and Graphics Business division. '
We are thrilled to have PC market leaders like HP and Lenovo expanding their use of AMD technology in their business client portfolios.'
Both HP and Lenovo have confirmed the impending availability of mini-tower, desktop, laptop, and small form factor systems based around the new AMD Pro chips, including the HP EliteDesk 705 G3 family. Neither has confirmed UK availability or pricing.
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