Intel plans to introduce a new tool that will help partners optimize the performance and total cost of ownership of their workloads on cloud instances powered by the company’s processors. The tool, called Intel Cloud Optimizer, is currently being piloted internally and will be made available to partners later this year as part of the semiconductor giant’s efforts to defend its dominant position in the cloud infrastructure market against AMD and other players with a bevy of new tools and resources, Intel sales executive Rose Schooler told CRN in a recent interview. “That’s going to really help our partners and our sellers have a capability to optimize performance and cost of that cloud instance,” said Schooler, who is corporate vice president of global data center sales.