What is the new "Intel Processor Power Management Utility"?

Dell is pushing some new firmware called "Intel Processor Power Management Utility" across a wide number of laptops. What is this?

Dell has some corporate-speak that doesn't say much:

"This package contains the Thermal and Power Configuration package. Thermal and Power Configuration package helps lower the system temperature and fan activity through reduced CPU power consumption by low Quality of Service (QoS) threads."

Recalls a gift from Apple to extend the battery life of my perfectly working iPhone 4s by throttling the processor to a crawl.