Memory Optimized for Data-Centric Workloads
Intel® Optane™ Persistent Memory (PMem)
PMem Is a Revolutionary Memory Technology
PMem provides a unique combination of affordable larger capacity and support for data persistence. With innovative technology offering distinctive operating modes, it adapts to your needs across workloads.
Boost Performance with Data Persistence
PMem gives you access to more data in memory enabling you to process large amounts of data faster. Unlike DRAM, data remains in PMem allowing you to retain data even when powered off – helping protect your systems from data loss.
Greater Memory Capacity
Optane™ PMem enables you to affordably increase your memory capacity per socket, extract value from larger data sets and increase the utility of each server.
Flexible Configuration with Two Modes
Operational modes in Optane™ Persistent Memory offer different functions giving you flexible configuration, the two modes are Memory Mode and App Direct Mode. Learn more here.
Hardware Encryption
Intel® Optane™ persistent memory incorporates hardware encryption. With AES 256-bit encryption, it helps protect data at rest from cyberattacks with minimal impact on performance.

Historically, memory and storage products have been limited by density, performance, and cost. PMem fills those gaps in the hierarchy.
Optane™ PMem Partners
Our partners offer solutions for Optane™ technology.
Optane™ PMem Solutions
We are partnered with leading data center system & cloud service providers to deliver workload-optimized solutions for you.
Get More Info
Do you want to get more information about Intel Optane PMem to help accelerate your data center modernization journey? Contact us below to get more information.
Customer Stories
See how customers use Optane™ PMem in Datacenters around the world.
PMem Innovation & Success
Click to see all customer stories and see how businesses have achieved: 12X faster SAP HANA start-up time, 4X better scalability for Aerospike, 3X faster performance for metadata search and more results, with Optane™ PMem.
Mercy: Harnessing Data
Learn how Mercy utilized the power of Intel processor-based SAP HANA solution combined with Optane™ PMem to turn data in to actionable insights about COVID-19.
FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between Intel® Optane™ persistent memory and standard DRAM?
- Intel® Optane™ persistent memory (PMem) has some similarities with DRAM in the following ways: Packaged in DIMMS, resides on the same bus/channels as DRAM, and can act in the same way as DRAM storing volatile data.
- Where Intel® Optane™ persistent memory (PMem) differs with DRAM is that it offers many new and exciting features. PMem comes in much higher capacities than traditional DRAM. PMem modules come in 128GB, 256GB and 512GB capacities, vastly larger than DRAM modules that typically range from 16GB to 64GB, though larger DRAM capacities exist. PMem also can operate in a persistent mode storing data even without power applied to the module and comes with built-in hardware encryption to help keep data at rest secure. The TCO of PMem is greatly improved compared to DRAM on a cost per GB basis and the ability to increase the capacity to beyond DRAM’s capabilities.
What is the difference between Intel® Optane™ persistent memory and Intel® Optane™ SSDs?
While both Intel® Optane™ persistent memory (PMem) and Intel® Optane™ SSDs use the same Intel® Optane™ memory media, they are very different products. Intel® Optane™ persistent memory is in a DIMM package, operates on the DRAM bus and can be used as volatile or persistent memory. Intel® Optane™ SSDs, on the other hand, are strictly used for fast storage residing in standard NAND package models (AIC, M.2, U.2, EDSFF), reside on the PCIe bus using the NVMe* protocol and are always persistent for storage reasons.
What are the benefits of Intel® Optane™ persistent memory?
- Native persistence – the ability to store data even when powered off.
- Large capacities at lower than DRAM prices – With the advent of larger persistent memory capacities, larger datasets can exist closer to the CPU for faster processing, which means greater insights. Higher capacities of Intel® Optane™ persistent memory create a more affordable solution, which is accelerating this industry-wide trend towards real-time data processing. Delivered on the 2nd and 3rd Generation Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors, large memory-bound workloads will have significant performance increase for rapid data processing.
- Operational Modes - The Intel® Optane™ persistent memory has two operating modes: Memory Mode (Memory Mode is great for large memory capacity and does not require application changes as the memory is treated as volatile) and App Direct Mode (provides large memory capacity and allows enabled applications to talk directly to PMem as a 2nd tier memory). With distinct operating modes, customers have the flexibility to take advantage of Intel® Optane™ persistent memory benefits across multiple workloads.
- Hardware encryption – Intel® Optane™ persistent memory has industry standard AES-256 hardware encryption so you can rest easy knowing your data is more secure. The encryption key is stored in a security metadata region on the module and is only accessible by the Intel® Optane™ persistent memory controller. If repurposing or discarding the module, a secure cryptographic erase and DIMM over-write is utilized to help keep data from being accessed.
Resources
Developer Resources
Access and utilize the full set of resources on Intel® Software Developer Zone to develop an Intel® Optane™ persistent memory application.
Product Implementation Videos
Visit our YouTube* channel to learn how organizations can drive innovation and new capabilities with Intel® Optane™ persistent memory.