Intel has launched the latest family of its Xeon E3 processors based on the new Haswell architecture and built using the chipmaker's 22-nanometer manufacturing process.

There are 13 processors in the new Xeon E3-1200 v3 family, ranging from chips optimized for entry-level servers and microservers to ones designed to handle data center graphics. Intel said all new chips were up to 18% more energy efficient than their predecessors.

Dylan Larson, director of Xeon product marketing at Intel, said, this was the first in a number of announcements of new data-center-processor lines Intel has planned for the year as it refreshes its portfolio with the new 22nm manufacturing technology, making them ever more powerful and energy efficient. “We're going to refresh pretty much the entire portfolio in production by the end of the year,” he said.

Member of the family aimed at the microserver market is the E3-1220L v3, slated for general availability next quarter. At 13 watts, it uses less power than any Xeon processor ever.

Its Ivy Bridge-architecture-based predecessor, for example, required 23% more power.

For power-conscious users that want more processing oomph, the new Xeon family has the E3-1230L v3, which takes 25 watts but cranks 50% more numbers per watt than its immediate predecessor.

There are also new E3s optimized for use in workstations, storage arrays and networking gear. The biggest part of the roll-out, however, are video features, as the company seeks to capitalize on the already massive and still rapidly growing market for online video and the infrastructure that supports it.

Intel is going after cloud-based media-service providers, promising them cost reductions and better media-processing capabilities for applications that enable uploading and sharing of video content across a variety of mobile devices and streaming of movies and TV shows. Other potential uses include video analytics and desktop virtualization.

With its new Xeon family, Intel has focused on increasing video-transcode speeds and improving image quality. The processors feature Intel HD Graphics P4700, which supports high-definition video transcoding and rids users of the need to use dedicated graphics servers.

According to Intel, the technology allows for up to 4.6 more transcodes per rack and up to 64% lower total cost of ownership than using discrete graphics servers.

Another video feature of the new Xeons is the Intel Media Software Development Kit (SDK). The kit gives developers a standard interface through which to access the chips' video processing and hardware-acceleration capabilities, making it easier to write media applications.