TLDR: Acronis and Intel have announced a strategic collaboration to integrate Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud with Intel Core Ultra processors. This partnership leverages AI PCs to deliver faster, more efficient, and automated threat detection and remediation for endpoint devices. By offloading AI tasks to Intel’s Neural Processing Units (NPUs) via OpenVINO, the solution significantly reduces CPU load, thereby improving system performance and extending battery life for users and IT administrators.
SCHAFFHAUSEN, Switzerland – Acronis, a global leader in cybersecurity and data protection, and Intel, a technology giant, have officially announced a new collaboration aimed at revolutionizing endpoint security. This partnership brings Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud’s advanced capabilities to AI PCs powered by Intel Core Ultra processors, promising a new era of faster, more efficient, and automated threat detection and remediation for endpoint devices without compromising system performance.
The core of this integration lies in Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud’s sophisticated Artificial Intelligence (AI) engine. This engine is designed to detect and neutralize modern cyber threats in real-time by continuously monitoring and analyzing behavioral patterns. It is particularly adept at uncovering advanced attacks such as ransomware, zero-day exploits, and fileless malware, which frequently bypass traditional security measures.
A significant innovation of this collaboration is the strategic utilization of Intel’s hardware acceleration. The platform leverages Intel’s OpenVINO™ technology to offload resource-intensive AI processes, including behavioral heuristics and anomaly scoring, directly onto the Neural Processing Unit (NPU) embedded within Intel Core Ultra processors. This architectural shift is critical for optimizing performance.
According to Acronis, this optimization results in a substantial reduction in CPU workloads, with internal performance testing indicating a decrease of up to 92% in CPU load. The benefits are multifaceted: improved system responsiveness, extended battery life, and the assurance that critical AI-driven protections operate seamlessly in the background, thereby enhancing overall user productivity and experience.
The joint offering is specifically tailored to strengthen endpoint protection for Managed Service Providers (MSPs), Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs), and enterprise customers. It aims to simplify complex IT security challenges by providing a natively integrated solution that encompasses cybersecurity, endpoint and posture management, data protection, automated backups, and disaster recovery.
Leaders from both companies emphasized the importance of this alliance. Gaidar Magdanurov, President at Acronis, stated, “Cyber protection must be natively integrated and AI-powered to address modern cyber threats. Our collaboration with Intel empowers MSPs and corporate IT to deliver real-time security at the endpoint with minimal impact to system performance, protecting the productivity of users. Our collaboration with Intel takes the headache out of IT security for users and IT administrators.”
Carla Rodríguez, Vice President and General Manager, Client Software Enabling at Intel, echoed this sentiment, adding, “Together Intel and Acronis are delivering fast, AI-powered security right on the device. By running complex security tasks on an AI PC with Intel Core Ultra processors, we enable partners like Acronis to deliver breakthrough protection with lower latency and improved performance and privacy.”
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This partnership arrives at a crucial time when the integration of AI into cybercrime has intensified, fueling the proliferation of cybercrime-as-a-service (CaaS) models and democratizing sophisticated attack capabilities. By combining natively integrated cyber protection with Intel’s hardware-driven AI acceleration, Acronis and Intel aim to establish a new benchmark for endpoint security performance and efficiency, enabling organizations and service providers to proactively counter the rapidly evolving cyberthreat landscape.
