AMD Wins Another Round Against Intel

The FTC has subpoenaed the chipmakers to seek information about their customers, including Dell, HP, and Apple. At issue: Intel's pricingScore another victory for Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) in its crusade to sick regulators on bigger rival Intel (INTC). The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has opened an investigation into chipmaker Intel and how its conduct affects AMD.



Intel and AMD said on June 6 that they had received subpoenas that give the FTC the leeway to seek information from the chipmakers' customers, including computer makers Dell (DELL), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Toshiba, and Apple (AAPL).

The investigation is focused on Intel's dominance of the market for microprocessors, which make up the heart of a PC. In particular, the FTC wants more information on Intel's practice of offering favorable pricing on chips to certain customers.

The move follows a 2005 lawsuit filed by AMD (BusinessWeek.com, 6/28/05) that accuses Intel of engaging in an aggressive and global campaign to shut AMD out of the marketplace. AMD says Intel's main weapon of choice is the regular use of volume discounts that it claims Intel has sometimes rescinded when PC makers begin adding AMD chips to their product lineup.

That case is expected to come to trial in a Delaware court in early 2010.

Intel Cites Fierce Competition

Intel was already the subject of an informal FTC inquiry in September, 2007, and said it would cooperate with the commission's more formal investigation. In a statement, Intel described its business practices as "well within U.S. law," and said the microprocessor business is so "fiercely competitive" that prices on chips have fallen by more than 42% from 2000 to 2007.

Intel says AMD's problems in the marketplace have more to do with its ability to ship price-competitive products. "There are only two ways to look at this," says Intel Chief Counsel Bruce Sewell. "There is nothing in the record to suggest that Intel is pricing its products below cost. So if Intel is pricing above cost, then either AMD can meet those prices because it is equally efficient or it can't because it is less efficient."

That argument drew a sharp rebuke from Tom McCoy, AMD's executive vice-president for legal affairs. "This case isn't about discounts or even about pricing," McCoy says. "It's about market foreclosure. If it were only about pricing and discounts then Intel would be winning with the regulators around the world."

Korea Imposes $25 Million Fine on Intel


Indeed, some regulators haven't been too sympathetic to Intel. The Korea Fair Trade Commission ruled on June 5 that Intel had violated that country's antitrust laws by offering rebates to Korean PC makers Samsung and Trigem between 2002 and 2005 in exchange for their agreement not to use AMD chips. The commission imposed a $25 million fine and ordered Intel to stop offering the rebates. Intel has said it will likely appeal the decision. Antitrust regulators in Japan and the European Union also have come out against Intel, saying the company violated laws by paying PC makers not to use AMD chips.

Intel's defense may not hold much water with the FTC either, says David Balto, a former policy director for the FTC who's now an attorney in Washington. "These discounts are handcuffs dressed up as benefits, and they have prevented retailers and others from making choices they would have otherwise made in a free market," Balto says.

During 2005 and 2006, AMD won a good portion of business away from Intel in the server chip market (BusinessWeek.com, 3/6/06). It also landed its chips in computers from both Dell and Toshiba, both of which for many years had used only Intel chips (BusinessWeek.com, 5/30/07).

PC Vendors Not So Fearful of Intel
McCoy says at least some of those successes came in the wake of regulatory action. PC vendors are proving more willing to use AMD chips because they're less afraid of retaliation from Intel, he says. "There is an emerging consensus around the world that Intel is coercing customers to avoid doing business with us and that this is hurting consumer choice," McCoy says. More recently, AMD has floundered (BusinessWeek.com, 4/8/08).

This is not the first time Intel has tangled with the FTC. In the late 1990s, the FTC accused Intel of withholding key technical information about its chips from Digital Equipment Corp. and Compaq, (both now units of Hewlett-Packard) as well as Intergraph. The three all had key patents related to microprocessors for which Intel had sought licenses. When the companies tried to enforce their patents, Intel held back information the companies would need to build new computers as a means of coercing them to license the patents in question.

Intel settled in 1999 with only a day before trial was scheduled to begin. Settlement talks began after a tennis game between Intel attorney Michael Sohn and then FTC antitrust chief William Baer.

Since then, especially in the wake of the Justice Dept.'s case against Microsoft (MSFT), antitrust case law has been altered in such a way that the FTC is more likely to play hardball with Intel: "This time I think they're going to take a cold hard look at Intel's conduct," Balto says. "The first time antitrust law didn't recognize the potential anticompetitive harm from this kind of conduct and how it might be illegal."

Intel waiting for a hit product to get MID market rolling

Intel is counting on the emergence of a hit product to kick-start demand for mobile Internet devices (MID) and spur sales of its Centrino Atom chip platform.

"By the end of this year, you will have seen a whole bunch of new MIDs coming out and we'll see which ones are hits," said Sean Maloney, executive vice president and general manager of Intel's Sales and Marketing Group. "You only need one hit."

Centrino Atom is based on the Silverthorne version of the Atom processor and includes Intel's System Controller Hub, a single-chip chipset that functions as the device's central nervous system. The chips were designed to be used in handheld computers that can be used to access the Internet and play multimedia files.

So far, very few devices based on Centrino Atom have been announced and given a release date; the few devices that have been announced are priced far above the $500 target price that Intel set for these devices. The rarity of these devices means Centrino Atom shipments are also low.

The sluggish pace of the MID market stands in sharp contrast to low-cost laptops and desktops based on the Diamondville version of Atom, which uses a traditional two-chip chipset. At the Computex exhibition in Taipei last week, hardware makers were falling over themselves to showcase their latest laptops and desktops based on Atom -- and complaining they can't get enough of the chips from Intel.

There wasn't the same level of activity in the MID segment, although several prototype devices were on display. Despite that slower pace, Maloney said the MID category will get traction in the market eventually.

"As yet, we don't have any hit devices.The product's only just come out and there are a bunch of people announcing products, but the smaller a device gets the more it becomes a fashion item," Maloney said, alluding to the challenge hardware makers face when trying to gauge consumer tastes.

"It's very difficult for a CPU company to pick winners there. It's not really so much in our gene pool," he said.

Laptops and desktops based on Atom -- which Intel calls netbooks and nettops, respectively -- are a different matter. Hardware makers and Intel can draw on years of experience with these products, including the first version of Asustek Computers' Eee PC, to create devices that appeal to users.

"The netbook is more predictable, it's really like a notebook. With a MID, there's much more experimental design in it," Maloney said.

AMD Releases Four New Quad-Core Opterons

Advanced Micro Devices on Monday introduced its fastest quad-core server chips to date, two new 2-socket and two new 8-socket processors dubbed Opteron SE.
Following a highly publicized setback late last year in its initial ramp of quad-core processors caused by a silicon glitch, Sunnyvale, Calif.-based AMD and OEM partners finally hit the market with B3-revision chips in March.

After splashy launch parties around the globe way back in September of last year, the ramp of the product codenamed Barcelona is finally proceeding apace with the introduction of two new 2.4GHz and two new 2.5GHz parts. The 2.4GHz quad-core Opteron 2358 SE is priced at $873 on AMD's Website, while the new top-of-the-line 2-socket released Monday by AMD, the 2.5GHz 2360 SE, has a price tag of $1,165.

Adding clock speed to its 8-socket quad-core portfolio are the new 2.4GHz 8358 SE, priced at $1,865, and the 2.5GHz 8360 SE, which runs a cool $2,149.

"In the 2-socket space, we're talking about the HPC folks, people doing genome-mapping for instance, where they need every last bit of clock speed and performance from each core," said AMD server chip manager Steve Demski last week.

"In the 8-socket space, the demographic is customers doing the really intense number-crunching against those big enterprise databases."

Demski said AMD expects Sun and Hewlett-Packard, who already offer 8-way servers built on previously released quad-core Opterons, to lead the way with new configurations featuring the 8358 SE and 8360 SE devices.

The new devices are benchmarking particularly well in terms of floating point performance, a traditional Opteron strength, Demski said, but the two new 8300 parts have also nailed the highest SAP-SD two-tier score in eight-socket servers and AMD is touting the 8358 SE and 8360 SE for data center scalability.

AMD also released three new Barcelona processors, codenamed Budapest, for single-socket servers earlier in June, bringing the chip maker's range of quad-core Opteron products a lot closer to the comprehensiveness anticipated last year, before the TLB errata was discovered in the original silicon.

The three single-socket chips that make up AMD's new Opteron 1300 series are all quad-cores, comprising the 2.1GHz Opteron 1352 ($209), the 2.2GHz 1354 ($255) and the 2.3GHz 1356 ($377).

IBM's Roadrunner Supercomputer Sets World-Record Speed

Beep beep! Sorry coyote, but you're still not wily enough to touch Roadrunner, IBM's supercomputer, billed as the fastest in the world operating at 1 petaflop or 1,000 trillion calculations per second.
To be housed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, IBM built Roadrunner for the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration to ensure the safety and reliability of the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile. The supercomputer, named after New Mexico's state bird, will also be used for astronomy, energy, human genome science and climate change research.

So, exactly how fast is the supercomputer? IBM said the speed is roughly equivalent to the combined computing power of 100,000 of today's fastest laptop computers—users would need a stack of laptops 1.5 miles high to match Roadrunner's performance. It would also take the entire population of the earth--about 6 billion people--each working a handheld calculator at the rate of 1 second per calculation more than 46 years to do what Roadrunner can do in one day.

IBM said that in the past 10 years, supercomputer power has increased about 1,000 times. Today, just three of Roadrunner's 3,456 tri-blade units have the same power as the 1998 fastest computer. Now, a complex physics calculation that will take Roadrunner one week to complete would have taken the 1998 machine 20 years to finish.

IBM also said Roadrunner, the world's first hybrid supercomputer, uses a first-of-a-kind design, the Cell Broadband Engine. Originally designed for video game platforms such as the Sony Playstation 3, the engine will work in conjunction with AMD's x86 processors. Other companies that contributed components and technology include Emcore, Flextronics, Mellanox and Voltaire.

In total, the computer connects 6,948 dual-core AMD Opteron chips on IBM Model LS21 blade servers, in addition to 12,960 Cell engines on IBM Model QS22 blade servers.

Standard processing--such as file system I/O--is handled by the Opteron processors. Mathematical and CPU-intensive elements are directed to the cell processors.

The system has 80 terabytes of memory and is housed in 288 refrigerator-size IBM BladeCenter racks taking up 6,000 square feet. Roadrunner's 10,000 connections--both Infiniband and Gigabit Ethernet--require 57 miles of fiber-optic cable and weigh a whopping 500,000 pounds.

The supercomputer's custom configuration uses two IBM QS22 blade servers and one IBM LS21 blade server that are combined into a specialized "tri-blade" configuration. Each tri-blade unit can run at 400 billion operations per second (400 Gigaflops). In total, Roadrunner has 3,456 tri-blades.

Roadrunner was built, tested and benchmarked in IBM's Poughkeepsie, N.Y., plant, which is also the home of the ASCI series of supercomputers the company built for the U.S. government in the late 1990s. IBM's site in Rochester, Minn., contributed to the project by constructing the specialized tri-blade servers. In addition, engineers developed the computers' software in IBM's Austin, Texas, and Yorktown Heights, N.Y., research labs. Roadrunner operates on open-source Linux software from Red Hat.

Despite its massive size, IBM calls Roadrunner an "energy miser." The Armonk, N.Y.-based company said that compared to most traditional supercomputer designs, Roadrunner's hybrid format sips power (3.9 megawatts) and delivers efficiency at 376 million calculations per watt.

As for future plans for Roadrunner, IBM is developing new software to make Cell-powered hybrid computing broadly accessible. Roadrunner's massive software effort targets commercial applications for hybrid supercomputing. Along with corporate and academic partners, IBM is developing an open-source ecosystem that is intended to bring hybrid supercomputing to financial services, energy exploration and medical imaging industries, among others.

Later this summer IBM will load the behemoth supercomputer onto 21 tractor trailer trucks to deliver it to the Los Alamos National Lab in New Mexico.

Quad core Opterons tip up - AMD debuts new server processors

Chip maker AMD has officially launched its new Quad-Core AMD Opteron SE server processors. The new chips will be available in systems from the usual suspects including Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems, Dell and IBM.

The 2360 SE (2.5 GHz), 2358 SE (2.4 GHz), 8360 SE (2.5 GHz), and 8358 SE (2.4 GHz) are now shipping and have achieved the highest SAP-SD two-tier score in eight-socket x86 servers and the highest SPECfp_rate2006 scores in both two- and four-socket x86 servers, says AMD.

AMD’s Additions to its Opteron Portfolio

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has completed its quad-core Opteron portfolio, as it has started shipping two new processors for the 2300 series as well as two more for the 8300 series. The new chips are designed for high-end four-socket / eight-socket servers.

The newcomers are called Opteron 2358 SE (2.4GHz), Opteron 2360 SE (2.5GHz), Opteron 8358 SE (2.4GHz) and 8360 SE (2.5GHz); these are part of the company’s last set of 65-nanometer server models, as it plans to switch to a 45-nanometer assembly process later on this year. The upcoming chips may bring a speed increase of up to twenty percent.

In the second week of May, AMD launched five quad-core Opteron processors (8347 HE, 8346 HE, 2347 HE, 2346 HE, and 2344 HE), described by company officials as energy-efficient. They run on 55 Watts of AC power and, when compared to the 75-watt Barcelona chips that were released by AMD last year, the Opteron shows a 30 percent efficiency increase. The chips’ speeds, as well as their prices, range from 1.7GHz to 1.9GHz and from $209 to $873, respectively.

Also in May, the company presented its two-year server and workstation product plan. Next year, AMD’s first six-core chip is scheduled for release and for the first half of 2010, a 12-core processor is being prepared.

AMD releases quad-core Opterons for two-, four- and eight-socket systems

On Monday, June 9, Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) introduced four new quad-core AMD Opteron SE processors for two-, four- and eight-socket commodity x86 systems. The new processors are comparable to larger, more costly symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) hardware.

"These Opteron offerings are for users who are most interested in maximum performance and are not concerned as much about wattage," said Steve Demski, AMD's Opteron product manager, "people who may have used high-end Unix systems and mainframes and want that kind of performance at a lower price point."

AMD also released quad-core processors for single-socket systems last week for applications that require a lot of data transfer and communication between processors.

In comparison, these quad-core processors designed for multiple-socket systems are best for applications that require a lot of memory or that perform more computing functions, rather than communications, according to Peter Ungaro, the CEO and president of Seattle-based Cray Inc., which uses various levels of AMD Opteron processors in its systems.

To be specific, workloads typically benefiting from four- and eight-socket server processing (the AMD 8000 series) include large databases, business processing systems (enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management and supply chain management) and business intelligence, as well as other IT infrastructure applications including heavy-duty Web serving and messaging, according to AMD.

AMD Opteron 2000 Series processors for two-socket systems are used for Web, file and print servers, Java application servers, and some email servers. Clustered two-socket systems are also frequently used for applications in the life sciences and oil and gas industries, and in other engineering applications.

Quad-core Opterons for one-socket systems (i.e., the AMD 1000 series) are typically used for Web serving, file and print needs, and other less CPU-intensive applications. Cray's supercomputing systems are unique in their use of single sockets, an AMD spokesperson said.

The new quad-core AMD Opteron SE processors use registered memory and can support up to eight memory sticks per CPU. The chips are available from global OEMs and vendors, including Hewlett-Packard Co., Sun Microsystems Inc., Dell Inc. and IBM.

The new quad-core AMD Opteron processor models and prices are as follows: 2358 SE (with 2.4 GHz) is $873; 2360 SE (with 2.5 GHz) is $1,165; 8358 SE (with 2.4 GHz) is $1, 865, and 8360 SE (with 2.5 GHz) $2,149. The processors are widely available.

In addition, the new processors have set some benchmarks. They achieved the highest SAP-SD two-tier score in eight-socket x86 servers, and quad-core AMD Opteron SE processors also achieved the highest SPECfp_rate2006 scores in both two- and four-socket x86 servers among comparable x86 processors.

Commercial Channel Partners Embrace the Quad-Core AMD Opteron™ Series 1300 Processor

System builders ready for high-performing, energy-efficient single socket AMD processors—

SUNNYVALE, Calif. -AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced significant support for the Quad-Core AMD Opteron™ 1300 Series processor from channel partners focused on enterprise and small and medium businesses as well as high performance computing (HPC) markets. The AMD Opteron 1300 Series processor provides the latest in enterprise-class performance and numerous energy efficient features for single processor servers and workstations, a key market focus for many leading system builders.

“Our technology partners depend on AMD to offer solutions that enable them to grow their business and provide value to their customers,” said Gary Bixler, director, North America Channel Marketing, AMD. “The AMD Opteron 1300 Series processor delivers quad-core computing in a stable socket and with a consistent power and thermal envelope that can help both reduce time-to-market for our channel partners and allow them to offer their customers a simple and efficient upgrade path for increased performance.”

Commercial channel customers will have the opportunity to engage with AMD authorized distributors to choose from a variety of motherboards with AMD Opteron 1300 Series processor support.

AMD also offers a robust Validated Server Program for commercial channel partners wishing to leverage barebones server platforms. These tested building blocks allow system builders to focus on the unique configurations their customers request and offer quick integration of new technology into their business. Learn more about AMD’s Validated Server Program at www.amd.com/vsp.

Advanced Clustering

"Advanced Clustering is proud to add the new Quad-Core AMD Opteron 1300 Series processors to our power efficient Pinnacle Server family. We believe that it will offer a great price/performance value for those wanting a Beowulf style cluster on a budget" - Shelly Kelley, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Advanced Clustering

ASA

“This new offering by AMD deepens our support for offering Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor-based servers and workstations. We are particularly excited to offer these high-performing, energy-efficient processors to customers who rely on this level of hardware to support critical applications.” - Arvind Bhargava, CEO, ASA

Colfax

“The new Quad-Core AMD Opteron 1300 Series processors create a great market opportunity for Colfax. This helps Colfax be well-positioned to provide entry level workstation and server offerings for businesses looking for smart solutions. We plan to offer systems with the new AMD Opteron processor.” - Gautam Shah, President, Colfax International

Microway

“The new Quad-Core AMD Opteron 1300 Series processors will enable our customers to achieve higher levels of performance and energy efficiency. Our WhisperStations-PRO workstation customers will enjoy the performance improvements of AMD’s native quad-core architecture" - Ann Fried, CEO, Microway

PSSC Labs

“PSSC Labs is pleased to introduce Quad-Core AMD Opteron 1300 Series processors into our PowerServe Centro A1400 and PowerStation Centro A1400 models. PSSC Labs continues to be impressed with AMD’s commitment to bringing high-performing, energy-efficient computing processors to market.” - Alex Lesser, vice president, PSSC Labs

Super Micro Computer, Inc.

“Super Micro is a leader in application-optimized, high performance server and workstation solutions and we have announced full support for the Quad-Core AMD Opteron 1300 Series processors on our latest single-processor A+ Servers, including the 1011M-UR and 1011S-MR2, currently on display at Computex Taipei 2008 in booths M619-726, 4th Floor" Alex Hsu, chief sales and marketing officer, Super Micro Computer, Inc.

Verari

“Verari plans to integrate the Quad-Core AMD Opteron 1300 Series processor into our rackmount server offerings. We are enthusiastic about this opportunity to continue to provide industry leading energy-efficiency and performance for our customers.” - Ed Holden, server product manager, Verari Systems

ZT Systems
“ZT Systems is proud to be selected by AMD to display new servers featuring Quad-Core AMD Opteron 1300 series processors at Computex. The ZT Systems 2102Ra Storage Server enables energy efficient performance and low cost of ownership for enterprise customers, and is just one example of ZT’s innovative AMD-powered server solutions for the datacenter.” - Bob Anderson, executive vice president, Business Development and Strategy, ZT Systems

AMD introduces four new Quad-Core AMD Opteron SE processors - Quick Facts

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD : News, Chart, Quote) revealed that it has introduced four new Quad-Core AMD Opteron SE processors to help IT managers to "scaling up" datacenter to address demanding enterprise-computing environments. Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor Models 2360 SE, 2358 SE, 8360 SE and 8358 SE achieved SAP-SD two-tier score in eight-socket x86 servers to drive more performance in demanding ERP environments.

The company also added that by adding more cores to 4-socket and 8-socket x86 servers allow users to gain greater levels of performance and efficiency to handle database and virtualization applications.

AMD extends Opteron lineup

Chip maker AMD is rounding out its quad-core Opteron portfolio with four new chips designed for high-end servers. The new processors include two new chips in the 2300 series designed for servers with one or two processors (the 2.4GHz Opteron 2358 SE and 2.5GHz 2360 SE), along with an additional two for the 8300 series aimed at systems with four or more processors (the 2.4GHz Opteron 8358 SE and 2.5GHz 8360 SE).

They’ll all contain the same 512KB of Level 2 cache per core as all the other Opteron processors while sharing 2MB of L3 cache between all four cores. The new chips will be priced from $873 to $1,865 in 1,000-unit quantities and available in systems from the usual suspects including Hewlett-Packard, Sun, Dell and IBM.

The Case for AMD’s Opteron in the Data Center

AMD today announced its latest round of quad-core Opteron chips, the processors formerly known as Barcelona. The new chips, called SE, are the highest performing Opterons; tests have shown them to run about eight percent faster than others in the Opteron line. Servers encasing these chips should start rolling out within the month: Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems, Dell and IBM have all committed to Opteron-based servers. (Sun’s new Sparc servers are already based on Opteron chips.)

One reason to think about the Opteron: according to Kishna Weaver, Opteron product manager, firms that upgrade from dual-core to quad-core servers can expect to see a 60 to 70 percent performance improvement, on average.

But why should Wall Street IT executives choose AMD’s quad-core versus Intel’s quad-core processor? Weaver offers some reasons:

First is AMD’s hardware-assisted virtualization, AMD-V. Although Intel has also introduced hardware-assisted virtualization, according to Weaver AMD’s has a few unique features. One is a “device exclusion vector,” built-in security in the form of a table that allows you to know which virtual machine is using which areas of memory, to protect it from an unauthorized virtual machine trying to use it.

A second AMD-specific virtualization feature is called Tagged TLB (TLB stands for Translation Look-aside Buffer). This is a table in the CPU that stores recently used virtual-to-physical memory translations – “tagged” means the data understands which virtual machine owns it. This provides faster access to certain data stored in memory for virtual machines.

A recently added AMD virtualization feature is rapid virtualization indexing (RVI), which takes some memory mapping formerly performed by hypervisor software and gives it to the chip hardware, enabling “faster, near native speeds,” according to Weaver.

Besides the virtualization features, Weaver says the Opteron chips are energy efficient and that the overall total cost of ownership, scalability and manageability of AMD processors is superior because new and old processors are compatible.

AMD claims quad core Opteron SE increases server densities at low total cost

The quad core Opteron SEs processors are meant to allow businesses to scale up datacenters by moving to servers with enterprise-class functionality at industry-standard pricing by adding more cores to 4- and 8-socket x86 servers than can handle database and virtualization applications, AMD said.

To help IT managers scale up datacenters to address enterprise-computing environments rather than investing in traditionally large and expensive enterprise-class proprietary hardware, Sunnyvale, Calif.-based microprocessor company Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) today rolled out four new quad core Opteron SE processors.

AMD said the quad core Opteron SEs processors are meant to allow businesses to scale up datacenters by moving to servers with enterprise-class functionality at industry-standard pricing by adding more cores to 4- and 8-socket x86 servers than can handle database and virtualization applications.

This announcement follows AMD’s launch last week for three quad-core Opteron 1300 series processors for one-socket servers and workstations.

OEMs such as Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems, Dell and IBM will offer systems based on the Opteron SE processors, AMD noted.

“For many customers, the concept of ‘scaling up’ a datacenter has meant a sizeable financial investment in new hardware to gain satisfactory performance during peak workloads. Today, the performance benefits of the new quad core AMD Opteron SE processor built on AMD’s Direct Connect Architecture and HyperTransport technology can help IT managers improve application performance and scalability of memory and data intensive workloads at a fraction of the cost. This is a significant benefit for customers looking to consolidate their datacenter or those interested in moving from proprietary hardware to x86 servers for mission critical software, such as database applications,” commented Patrick Patla, director for AMD’s server and workstation business, in a statement.

Further, AMD pointed out that as the industry rallies around the scaling up of datacenters, Microsoft is at the forefront to help make sure that mid-market and enterprise customers seeking to improve server utilization can take advantage of 64-bit environments.

“A flexible and scalable datacenter that meets the dynamic demands of doing business in a global economy is more important than ever for organizations of all sizes. As we prepare for the general availability of Microsoft SQL Server 2008, we are excited about our work with AMD to provide our mutual customers a state of the art data platform for their business critical workloads such as ERP, Web, Business Intelligence, and Data Warehousing,” explained Dan Neault, general manager of Microsoft’s SQL Server.

Opteron models 2360 SE (2.5 GHz), 2358 SE (2.4 GHz), 8360 SE (2.5 GHz), and 8358 SE (2.4 GHz) are available now.

As for the market AMD is playing into, recently, market research company IDC reported that factory revenue in the worldwide server market grew 3.5% year over year to $13 billion in Q1, despite slowing economic growth in the US, and marking the eighth consecutive quarter of positive revenue growth and the highest Q1 revenue in the worldwide server market since 2001.

More than 2 million servers were shipped for the second consecutive quarter and unit shipment growth of 7.8% year-over-year in Q108 demonstrates that worldwide demand for servers has remained healthy, even as virtualization technology is being adopted worldwide, IDC noted.

“The server market continues to experience solid growth as businesses of all types focus on expanding and refreshing their IT infrastructures for both traditional and emerging cloud-based workload,” noted Matt Eastwood, group VP of enterprise platforms at IDC, in a statement.

HP and IBM finished Q1 in a statistical tie for the number 1 position in the worldwide server market with 29% and 28.1% share respectively. Dell grew factory revenue 9.4% year-over-year and moved into the number 3 position in the market holding 12.3% share for Q1, while Sun’s revenues declined 1.8% year-over-year in Q1, ending with 10.5% revenue share as the number 4 vendor. Fujitsu/Fujitsu-Siemens maintained its fifth-place standing in terms of factory revenue, with 6.3% market share in Q1.

IDC also reported that x86 server market decelerated slightly in Q1, growing 4.4% year-over-year to $7 billion worldwide, its slowest growth rate in seven quarters. Unit shipment growth also continued with a gain of 8.5% to 1.9 million servers.

“The efficiency advantages of virtualization in enterprise servers is apparent across the industry and has led to continued demand for capable x86 solutions,” offered Daniel Harrington, research analyst with IDC’s enterprise server group. “Geographically, the growth in the market was driven by the EMEA and Asia/Pacific regions, while the U.S. actually showed negative revenue growth in the x86 segment for the first time since the dot-com bust of the early 2000s.”

AMD Steps up Quad-core Opteron Shipments

Advanced Micro Devices is shipping four more versions of its quad-core Opteron server chip, adding more performance to the company's product line.

The four quad-core processors now available are the 2.5GHz Opteron 2360 SE, 2.4GHz 2358 SE, 2.5GHz 8360 SE, and 2.4GHz 8358 SE.

These are the high-performance versions of the quad-core Opteron line. The SE attached to each model number signifies that it's a "frequency optimized" chip, meaning the chips are meant for applications where performance is a priority over power consumption.

The 2360 SE and 2358 SE are designed for servers with one or two processors, while the 8360 SE and 8358 SE are for systems with four or more processors. They are priced at US$1,165, $873, $2,149, and $1,865, respectively, in 1,000-unit quantities, a standard way of quoting chip prices.

The chips are now available in servers from Hewlett-Packard, Dell, IBM and Sun, AMD said.

AMD Completes Opteron Portfolio

The chip maker is now shipping quad-core processors for high-end four- and eight-way servers.


Advanced Micro Devices is rounding out its quad-core Opteron portfolio with new chips designed for high-end four-socket and eight-socket servers.

The chip maker will start shipping two more processors in its 2300 series and an additional two for the 8300 series June 9. Since January, AMD has been looking to make up the ground it lost in 2007 when the first batch of quad-core Opterons were found to have a design flaw in the silicon.

Since then, the AMD quad-core Opteron, or “Barcelona,” processor has been picked up by all four tier one OEMs and a number of small server vendors. The company has also started shipping Opterons for lower-end one-socket systems.

The new processors include the Opteron 2358 SE (2.4GHz) and the Opteron 2360 SE (2.5GHz), along with the Opteron 8358 SE (2.4GHz) and the 8360 SE (2.5GHz). Each of the chips will contain the same 512KB of Level 2 cache per core as all the other Opteron processors, and all four cores will share 2MB of L3 cache.

All four processors will work with a 95-watt thermal envelope.

While AMD has released Opteron chips for MP (multiprocessor) servers before, Steve Demski, an AMD marketing manager, said these new chips are specially designed for customers building high-performance computing environments running applications that require floating-point calculations. Demski also sees a market for businesses looking to run database or other backend applications on x86 hardware, as opposed to a mainframe or Unix-based system.

“The guys that are looking to by the SE series are looking for maximum performance,” said Demski. “What we are talking about is scaling up. In the past, you might need a mainframe or a high-end Unix box, and we now believe that we are providing that same level of performance with these four- and eight-socket systems. The difference is that the cost of the hardware and the cost of the system are much reduced.”

The chips that AMD will ship June 9 represent some of the company’s last 65-nanometer models for servers before the company switches to a new 45-nm manufacturing process later this year. Those processors, dubbed “Shanghai,” will offer a bump in clock speed—perhaps by as much as 20 percent at the launch as the company tries to keep up with Intel—while keeping the thermal envelopes the same.

The MP space is important to AMD as it provides good margins for their products. Hewlett-Packard, Dell, IBM and Sun Microsystems are each expected to release servers built around the new SE models.

For years, AMD had an advantage in this market, compared with Intel, with chip technologies such as integrated memory controller, which allows for better bandwidth. Intel plans to update it offering for the MP space later this year with a new chip called Dunnington, which will have six processing cores and 16MB of L3 cache.

After Dunnington, Intel will release its Nehalem microarchitecture, which will be the first chips to offer the company’s own integrated memory controller as well as other new features.

The prices for the new Opteron models are $873 for the 2358 SE, $1,165 for the 2360 SE, $1,865 for the 8358 SE and $2,149 for the 8360 SE. These prices reflect shipments of 1,000 units.

AMD rounds out Opteron line-up

AMD has rolled out the latest instalment in its new line of Opteron processors.

The quad-core Opteron SE server chips are designed for high-performance four- and eight-socket servers.

AMD hopes that the quad-core chips will offer a "scale up" approach to businesses.

Customers will be able to scale up to more powerful chips rather than purchasing additional server hardware.

"For many customers, the concept of 'scaling up' a data centre has meant a sizeable financial investment in new hardware to gain satisfactory performance during peak workloads," said Patrick Patla, director of AMD's server and workstation business.

"Today, with the performance benefits of the new Quad-Core AMD Opteron SE processor, IT managers can improve application performance and scalability of memory and data intensive workloads at a fraction of the cost."

AMD also hopes that the new chips will offer power savings while still preserving a high level of performance.

Opteron product manager Kishna Weaver told vnunet.com that, because the chip was designed with power savings in mind, AMD is able to focus on boosting performance with the SE chips while still keeping energy consumption down.

"There are fundamental things that AMD does to address power, and it is going to be present in every product in the line up," explained Weaver.

AMD will offer the Opteron SE chips in four different models, running at speeds of 2.4GHz and 2.5GHz.

Server vendors planning on offering the chips include Sun Microsystems, Dell, HP and IBM.

AMD pitches latest Opterons at swollen boxen

AMD today pushed out its latest round of quad core Opteron chips, this time designed for four-socket and eight-socket x86 server beasts.

The Sunnyvale, California-based chip maker said it has already begun shipping processors, which are in its 2300 and 8300 models and aimed squarely at the enterprise market, to Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems, Dell and IBM.

It is AMD’s latest attempt to stomp on rival Intel with its Opteron or “Barcelona” chip, after the original launch was scuppered by a design fault in the silicon last autumn.

Barcelona has already been gobbled up by the major OEMs, including HP and Dell. Opterons have also been shipped for lower end one socket systems.

The latest AMD quad core chips include the Opteron 2358 SE (2.4GHz) and the Opteron 2360 SE (2.5GHz), and customers can also get their hands on the Opteron 8358 SE (2.4GHz) and the 8360 SE (2.5GHz).

Each processor, which AMD said will work with a 95 watt thermal envelope, is loaded with the same 512KB of Level 2 cache per core as the other Barcelona chips, while all four cores share 2MB of L3 cache.

Apparently, Microsoft is wetting its pants over the new chip.

“As we prepare for the general availability of Microsoft SQL Server 2008 [which has missed its launch date by a considerable margin], we are excited about our work with AMD to provide our mutual customers a state of the art data platform for their business critical workloads such as ERP, Web, Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing,” said Redmond’s SQL Server general manager Dan Neault.

No word from AMD on how much enterprises can expect to cough up for systems running the chips, however. It simply proclaims that the chips will be priced at an “industry-standard”.

Last week AMD launched its long-awaited Puma laptop platform into an unexpectedly open market after Intel was forced to delay its refreshed Centrino 2 platform.

AMD to 'wait and see' about low-cost chip

AMD set to introduce its Puma line of chips :

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Advanced Micro Devices Inc., trailing Intel Corp. in the market for computer processors, will "wait and see" before deciding whether to develop chips for the low-cost notebook market.

"I'm a little bit skeptical because of the big trade-offs and the economies of scale on the full-size notebooks," said Patrick Moorhead, AMD'S vice president of advanced marketing. Low-cost personal computers "have a hard time doing what a lot of people would consider basic surfing" on the Internet.

Intel on Tuesday unveiled its Atom chip, aimed at the low-cost notebook market. Acer Inc. and Asustek Computer Inc. are among makers of products featuring the processor. Today, AMD plans to introduce its Puma line of chips, which Moorhead said is targeted at 85 percent of the notebook market.

The new AMD chips cut power usage and offer high-quality video capability, allowing notebook users to watch a full-length, high-definition DVD on a single battery charge, Moorhead said.

Atom isn't designed for complex tasks such as video encoding, said Noury Al-Khaledy, Intel's general manager of nettop and netbook computers.

Intel expects the market for low-cost computers to increase to 100 million units per year by 2011, Al-Khaledy said. The worldwide notebook market will climb to 194 million units a year over the same period, according to researcher IDC.

Puma includes a central processor as well as a supporting chipset, which Moorhead said will be made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd., the world's largest custom-chip producer, using 55-nanometer technology. Transistors within chips are measured in nanometers, or billionths of a meter.

Shares of Sunnyvale, Calif.-based AMD, which has about 2,500 employees in Austin, rose 1 cent to $6.81 on Tuesday. Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel fell 26 cents to $22.94.

Supermicro Unleashes Single-Processor

Super Micro Computer, Inc. (Nasdaq: SMCI), a leader in application-optimized, high performance server and workstation solutions, has announced full support for the latest Quad-Core AMD Opteron(TM: 102.29, -0.22, -0.21%) 1300 Series processors on its latest single-processor A+ Servers on display at Computex Taipei 2008 (booths M619-M726). In addition to the cost-effective 1011M-UR and 1011S-MR2 A+ Servers, Supermicro is also showcasing its high-density, energy-efficient, 4-way/2-way SuperBlade(TM: 102.29, -0.22, -0.21%), 1U Twin(TM: 102.29, -0.22, -0.21%), 4-way 1U, and Universal I/O (UIO) solutions. All five solutions are optimized for Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors.

"Always quick to market with the latest server technology, Supermicro fully supports the new single-socket processors on our latest generation of UP servers," said Alex Hsu, chief sales and marketing officer (CSMO) of Supermicro. "Featuring the highest computing density available, we are also showcasing our SuperBlade SBE-710E 7U enclosure with up to ten 4-socket Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor-based server blades supporting up to 960 processor cores and 7.68TB of memory per 42U rack along with our new 2-way AMD Opteron blades (SBA-7121M-T1) and our A+ Server 1021TM Series Opteron 1U Twin(TM: 102.29, -0.22, -0.21%) servers."

"By merging the strength of AMD's native quad-core technology and Direct Connect Architecture with their own server design expertise, Supermicro has produced an extensive selection of quad-core solutions that are exceptional in terms of performance, features and energy-efficiency," said Patrick Palta, director, Server and Workstation Business, AMD (NYSE: AMD: 6.81, +0.01, +0.14%). "By enabling excellent overall system performance and efficiency, Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor-based systems are a clear choice for meeting the business computing demands of today's competitive marketplace."

Supporting two AMD Opteron processor-based DP motherboards in a 1U chassis, Supermicro's new A+ Server 1021TM series 1U Twin(TM: 102.29, -0.22, -0.21%) increases computing density while minimizing energy consumption, costs and space requirements. When loaded with four Quad-Core AMD Opteron 2300 Series processors, the 1U Twin(TM: 102.29, -0.22, -0.21%) system features 16 processing cores for exceptional computing density. Each node is a true high-performance system that supports up to 64GB of energy-efficient DDR2 memory, PCI-Express x16, independent dual Gigabit Ethernet ports, and optional InfiniBand.

Supermicro emphasizes superior product design and uncompromising quality control to produce industry-leading serverboards, chassis and server systems. These Server Building Block Solutions provide benefits across many environments, including data center deployment, high-performance computing, high-end workstations, storage networks and standalone server installations. For more information on Supermicro's complete line of advanced motherboards, SuperServers, and optimized chassis

AMD rolls out new laptop chip package

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. rolled out a new package of chips for laptops Wednesday, a major overhaul of its mobile lineup the chip maker hopes will help it climb out of a deep financial trough.

The Sunnyvale-based company, saddled with debt and hurt by product delays, is betting consumers will gravitate toward its new Turion brand processor and related chipset — part of a package that chip makers call a "platform" and sell together — because of their focus on high-definition video playback.

This new generation of Turion laptop chips will appear at launch in twice as many different computers — from Hewlett-Packard Co., Acer Inc., Toshiba Corp. and others — as the previous generation, released two years ago, AMD said.

Chip makers AMD, Intel Corp. and Nvidia Corp. are battling harder over high-end graphics as more people watch movies and television programs on their home computers and as operating systems and Web applications require better visuals.

To that end, AMD's new chips, which were unveiled at the Computex computer show in Taiwan, rely heavily on parts from ATI Technologies, a graphics chip supplier that AMD acquired for $5.6 billion in 2006 to help it challenge Nvidia and much larger Intel.

Intel is the world's No. 1 maker of microprocessors, the brains of personal computers. AMD is a distant No. 2, and with the acquisition of ATI now makes standalone graphics chips. Nvidia is the market leader in standalone graphics chips.

AMD hopes that by infusing its general-purpose chips with more advanced graphics capabilities it can boost their appeal and help the company increase its market share.

AMD has racked up more than $4 billion in losses over the last six quarters as Intel snatched away market share with newer parts and AMD struggled to digest the pricey ATI acquisition.

AMD's new Turion X2 Ultra Dual-Core mobile processors, which come in clock speeds up to 2.4 gigahertz, are accompanied by powerful new chipsets, a separate set of chips that do most of the graphics work — absent a standalone graphics chip — and control how the processor communicates with the rest of the computer.

AMD says its chipsets deliver three times better 3-D performance and five times better high-definition image quality than competing models because of the strength of its integrated graphics. AMD also says its chips transmit high-definition videos and photos faster over wireless networks.

The company says demand for its new lineup of laptop chips has been strong.

Intel, Nvidia Fight Over Gadgets

That's the quick and not entirely complete explanation for why Nvidia (nasdaq: NVDA - news - people ) moved last Sunday to counter Intel's (nasdaq: INTC - news - people ) foray into processors for mobile devices with an expanded low-power processor line of its own, dubbed Tegra.

The longer explanation is that both companies see the markets for their processors going where Apple (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ) Chief Executive Steve Jobs is busy building an empire: mobile devices that combine computing, connectivity and multimedia content. Build the chips, and someone, whether it is Jobs or Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) Chief Executive Steve Ballmer, will help turn them the gadgets consumers will crave.

Intel is pushing its mobile processor line, dubbed Atom, as a way to cram the ability to run a bite-sized, power-sipping version of the chips that power desktop computers into ever smaller devices. Nvidia, meanwhile, is pitching the ability to tackle desktop-quality multimedia on a tiny power budget. The Tegra 650, announced Sunday, will join a previously announced Nvidia chip, the APX 2500, to make up a a new product line for the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company.

The Tegra 650 crams together a motley collection of processors onto a single piece of silicon. The chips will include an 800-megahertz ARM central processor--the same power-sipping design powering many smart phones--with a high-definition video processor, an imaging processor, an audio processor and a tiny, low-power version of the GeForce graphics processors Nvidia pushes for desktop and laptop computers.

"We think it's a complete computer on a chip," says Mike Rayfield, general manager of Nvidia's mobile business.

The result: Nvidia claims its Tegra processors get as much as 10 times the power efficiency of existing products in battery-operated gadgets running applications such as games and video. The company said it expects products built around the new chips will arrive by year-end for pocket-sized, multimedia-friendly gadgets.

But while Tegra will be powering devices running Microsoft software, Apple could offer the best example of where Nvidia and Intel see the future going. When Intel wants to show investors the kind of devices that will use future generations of even more power-efficient Atom processors, it flashes a slide with an image of an iPhone. And when Nvidia wanted to grab a spot in the market for mobile multimedia gizmos, it bought PortalPlayer, the company that supplied the silicon for the original iPod. Smart people at both companies are betting big on the same idea.

Steve Jobs is too. In April, Apple bought chip designer P.A. Semi for $278 million in cash. (See "Apple Buys Chip Designer.") The move gives Apple a cadre of experienced microprocessor designers who will set to work designing new chips for Apple's iPhone and iPod music players. So there's no guarantee that either Nvidia or Intel will ever win a spot inside of future Apple gizmos.

Then again, the ability to help Apple's competitors beat down whatever Jobs comes up with promises to be a mighty juicy consolation prize.

Intel bets on emerging market with new Atom chip

Intel also unveils solid-state drives for new netbook and net-top computers

Betting on the market for small laptops and desktops, Intel Corp. today announced new Atom processors for what it's calling netbook and net-top computers.

Sean Maloney, an Intel executive vice president, unveiled two new Atom processors during a keynote address today at the Computex trade show in Taiwan. Intel began shipping Atom chips for mobile Internet devices, which are small pocketable machines, back in April.

The new Atom N270 and Atom 230 processors for small laptops and desktops are the second incarnation of Intel's newly designed 45-nanometer processor.

"We see a lot of demand for more affordable products," said Chris Tulley, a spokesman for Intel. Noting that the majority of households in emerging markets have no PCs, and that the majority of households in mature markets have one PC, he added, "We see an opportunity to have more devices per household and potentially one device per person."

Tulley added that the company expects netbook and net-top sales to outpace growth of traditional laptops and desktops.

A netbook is a relatively inexpensive, small form-factor laptop that is designed for basic applications like Web surfing, e-mail and writing. A net-top is similar, except it's a desktop. Both are designed to use less power than their traditional counterparts but aren't powerful enough for serious power users or gamers.

Tulley said companies like Acer Inc. are both coming out with devices based on the new Atom chips. Maloney showed off net-tops and netbooks based on the new chips at the conference today.

The Atom line -- Intel's smallest chips -- are designed to have a small footprint, enable long battery life and have low thermals and energy consumption. The architecture, which was reportedly designed from the ground up, includes the 45nm "high-k" transistor formula unveiled with the Penryn family of chips late last year.

In a related announcement at Computex, Intel unveiled the Z-P230 PATA solid-state drive, which will provide flash memory storage for netbook and net-top systems. Intel is slated to ship a 4GB version of the device for $25 and an 8GB version for $45 in the third quarter of this year. A 16GB version of the Z-P230 PATA solid-state drive will be available in the fourth quarter for an undisclosed price.

Approximately four times smaller than 1.8-in. notebook hard drives and weighing only 10 grams, the Z-P230 features a PATA IDE interface, which will allow Intel to easily plug the NAND flash device into its future mobile PC computing products, according to an Intel spokesman. The solid-state drive includes a read throughput of 35MB/sec. and write throughput of 7MB/sec. The new flash drive uses 1.65 milliwatts of power in idle state and 314 milliwatts in operating mode.

Intel has aggressively stepped up development of its solid-state technology this year. Last week, it and Micron Technology Inc. unveiled a jointly developed 34nm, 32Gbit NAND flash memory chip that will be available in the second half of 2008. In addition, Intel confirmed plans to ship 1.8-in. and 2.5-in. solid-state drives for laptop and notebook PCs with storage capacities of 80GB to 160GB sometime in the middle of this year.

Also at Computex today, Intel unveiled new chip sets for desktop PCs. The Intel 4 Series chip sets, which include the G45, G43, P45 and P43, will be used with the 45nm Intel Core2 Duo and Intel Core2 Quad processors.

AMD manages to ship 'Budapest' for single socket boxes

AMD's four-core chip aimed at single socket servers has finally made its way to market.


The company today heralded the release of "Budapest." The chip will fit into single processor servers from the usual suspects and be sold under the 1300 Series brand. AMD once looked to get Budapest out "in the second half of 2007," but here we are in mid-2008.

The new chip comes in three flavors - 1352 (2.1GHz), 1354 (2.2GHz), and 1356 (2.3GHz).

Supercomputer specialist Cray may be the most excited vendor to see Budapest arrive. The company uses this chip to fuel its XT4 beasts.

Last year, Cray blamed a lack of Budapest chips for sagging fourth quarter revenue, as customers waited for the new part to upgrade. ®

Intel Doubles Storage on SSD Drives

Intel introduced an 8G-byte solid-state storage drive and said it would make a 16G-byte solid-state drive available in the fourth quarter of this year.

The Intel Z-P230 PATA 8G-byte SSD is small enough to use with sub-notebooks and ultra-low-cost notebooks, Intel said. The drive, which comes in the form of a chip, is four times smaller than a traditional 1.8-inch hard disk drive and weighs 10 grams.

SSDs have no moving parts, making them more rugged than hard drives, according to Intel. SSDs also consume less power than hard drives, giving laptops more battery life. Intel is aiming this product at Netbooks and Nettops, a brand of low-cost PCs launched by Intel earlier this year that will carry the company's low-cost Atom processor.

The announcement was made at the Computex trade show in Taipei.

The drive will be available for US$45 in units of 1,000 in the third quarter of this year. Intel declined comment on the pricing for the 16G-byte SSD.

The company last month announced it would double the density of its 16G-byte drives to 32G-byte drives that will enable on-board storage capacity of up to 256G bytes of storage in a 1.8-inch form factor. The drives will be linked on-board via a standard PATA (parallel advanced technology attachment) interface.

The company will ship samples of the 32G-byte drive starting in June, with mass production expected in the second half of this year. Intel didn't comment on when it expects to formally ship the 32G-byte drive.

Intel introduced SSD drives late last year, announcing 2G-byte and 4G-byte drives. At the time, Intel said it would grow SSD storage modules to 64G bytes in two years.

T2K Open Supercomputer Systems with Quad-Core AMD Opteron(TM) Processors Now in Operation

AMD Japan (NYSE: AMD) today announced the official start of operation of the T2K supercomputer systems featuring Quad-Core AMD Opteron™ processors and with specifications developed jointly by the University of Tsukuba, the University of Tokyo, and Kyoto University. These T2K systems were delivered to the University of Tsukuba by Cray Japan Inc. and Sumisho Computer Systems, to the University of Tokyo by Hitachi Ltd., and to Kyoto University by Fujitsu Ltd. "In July 2006, these three universities began jointly developing common specifications for each university’s next-generation supercomputer with an eye toward using their supercomputers collaboratively,” said Shunsuke Yoshizawa, director, Regional Marketing, AMD Japan. "The universities aimed to adopt the most advanced and highest performance technology as early as possible, and have engaged in three pillars of openness that make up this new shared specifications experiment: the use of open source hardware architecture, open source system software, and their desire to make the supercomputers widely available amongst the three institutions. The performance, scalability and advance floating point processing capability of the Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor easily matched their requirements.” The University of Tokyo supercomputer system is comprised of 952 nodes of the Hitachi HA8000-tc/RS425 technical server with four Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors per node. The system as designed achieves a theoretical peak performance of approximately 140 teraflops. A teraflop or "tflop” is the computing power required to process one trillion floating point operations per second. This theoretical peak performance is the fastest in Japan at the time of launch. The University of Tsukuba’s system was built by Cray Japan Inc. and Sumisho Computer Systems and is based on Appro International’s Xtreme-X Supercomputer, while the Kyoto University’s system was built around the Fujitsu HX600 HPC server. Both supercomputers are equipped with four Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors per node. The University of Tsukuba’s system can achieve a theoretical peak performance of approximately 95 tflops, while the Kyoto University system tops out at a theoretical peak performance of approximately 61 tflops. The T2K supercomputers will provide these universities and their researchers with the outstanding system performance and advanced floating point processing enabled by Quad-core AMD Opteron processors. The selection of AMD technology for these highly advanced systems can also provide the universities with much-needed energy efficiency in the form of performance-per-watt and innovative processor-level power management features such as AMD CoolCore™ Technology and Independent Dynamic Core Technology. The synergy of advanced research expertise in computer science developed over many years at these three universities and the computing power of the new AMD processor-based T2K supercomputers is expected to help address increasingly diverse needs in industry and academia including the large-scale scientific calculations for researching subatomic particles and nuclear energy, astronomy, climate modeling and weather forecasting, and genetics and biomedical advancements, among many others. Additional information about T2K can be found at http://www.open-supercomputer.org. Visit AMD on the Web For more information on the Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor family, including FAQs, development tools, and other general information, please visit http://multicore.amd.com. Information on Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor pricing can be found at http://www.amd.com/pricing. An online press kit is available at http://www.amd.com/quadcore/presskit. About AMD Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) is a leading global provider of innovative processing solutions in the computing, graphics and consumer electronics markets. AMD is dedicated to driving open innovation, choice and industry growth by delivering superior customer-centric solutions that empower consumers and businesses worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.amd.com. AMD, the AMD Arrow logo, AMD Opteron and combinations thereof, are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Other names are for informational purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.

NComputing, AMD and BRAC Join Forces to Expand Computing in Bangladesh

NComputing, AMD (NYSE: AMD) and BRAC announced today the completion of a collaborative project to deploy innovative technology solutions in 10 new school-based 50x15 Initiative Learning Labs throughout Bangladesh. BRAC, one of the world's largest non-governmental organizations, deployed NComputing virtual desktops and AMD Athlon(TM) 64 X2 Dual-Core processor-based desktop computers in 10 schools around the country as part of the 50x15 Initiative, a global initiative founded by AMD with the goal of providing computing capabilities and Internet connectivity to 50 percent of the world's population by 2015.

NComputing, a leading provider of desktop virtualization software and hardware, and AMD, a leading global provider of innovative processing solutions in computing, graphics and consumer electronics, are collaborating to empower people in emerging countries with tools and skills to help them succeed in today's modern world. Similar to previous 50x15 deployments, BRAC followed AMD's proven learning lab methodology, which includes providing tools, techniques and training to maximize educational impact. BRAC, NComputing, and AMD plan to apply the successes and lessons learned in these labs to future deployments.

The AMD/NComputing solution makes sense for budget-constrained areas. AMD is known for its work in energy efficiency throughout the world, and NComputing virtual desktop software and hardware allow the power -- and cost -- to be shared by multiple users.

BRAC organized the deployment of the Learning Labs, which now provide computing access to thousands of children in 10 cities. BRAC's Internet Service Provider arm, BRACNet, provided connectivity solutions to provide the locations with wireless Internet service.

"The deployment of 50x15 Learning Labs throughout Bangladesh will help this country to become a bigger part of the information society," said Abdul-Muyeed Chowdhury, chairman of BRAC BDMail Network Ltd (BBN). "Our goal is to provide PCs to 1,000 libraries and 15,000 non-formal primary schools all over the country. With NComputing's virtual desktop technology and the 50x15 Learning Lab model, we will be one step closer to bridging the digital divide that exists between developed countries and emerging nations, such as Bangladesh."

With the NComputing X300, seven users can simultaneously share a single computer, while the company's L-series supports up to 10 users on a basic computer, 30 on a mid-range system, and hundreds on enterprise-class servers. A breakthrough in green computing, NComputing access devices consume as little as 1.16 watts per user at idle, versus as much as 115 watts for some PCs. Support costs can be expected to plummet because fewer PCs are used (compared to one PC per user) and the solid-state NComputing access devices require little or no maintenance.

BRAC selected the AMD/NComputing solution because of the low costs of deployment, maintenance, support and upgrade along with the energy efficiency of the solution.

"NComputing believes that providing PC access to the next billion users is the single biggest challenge facing our industry today," said Stephen Dukker, chairman and CEO of NComputing. "Emerging countries make up the majority of this under-served mass market and we are gratified that NComputing's technology can be an important part of the solution in Bangladesh and around the world."

NComputing solutions have already been deployed by 15,000 organizations in over 70 countries, helping to slash their computing and electric consumption costs. Calculators for budget, total costs of ownership, and environmental impact are available on NComputing's website at www.ncomputing.com. One scenario is as follows: based on the one-PC-per-user model, seven computers that cost $700 each would cost a total of $4,900 for seven users. But a single $700 computer can support 7 users with 2 NComputing X300 kits. At a price of about $210 per X300 kit, that means a total cost for the hardware and NComputing virtualization software of $1,120 for 7 users ($700 for the computer plus $210 each for the X300 kits, for a total of $1,120). This calculation does not include keyboards, mice, monitors and software licenses, but it shows the potential for enormous savings.

"Learning Labs are deliberate, measured, strategic deployments of technology solutions used to gain insight and knowledge on how best to foster digital inclusion worldwide," said Dan Shine, vice president, 50x15 Initiative AMD and president, 50x15 Foundation. "This expansive project to create 10 new learning labs truly captures the spirit and vision of the 50x15 Initiative by bringing together global collaborators and developing an innovative solution based on leading-edge technology to provide Internet connectivity and computing capability to a new generation."

About NComputing

Winner of The Wall Street Journal's Technology Innovation Award, NComputing, Inc. was founded with the goal of making desktop computing affordable for everyone. Headquartered in Redwood City, CA, NComputing is a privately held virtualization software and hardware company. The company's patented technology can help lower desktop computing costs, improves manageability, and reduces both energy consumption and e-waste.

About BRAC

Established in 1972 as a small-scale relief and rehabilitation organization, BRAC today is one of the largest NGOs in the world, pioneering a multi-faceted approach to development with programs in health, education and social development along with its economic development initiatives, which include microfinance. BRAC reaches an estimated 110 million people in all 64 districts of Bangladesh and in recent years has stepped beyond the borders to countries in distress like Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Uganda and Tanzania.

AMD Foundation Launches ''AMD Changing the Game''

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced the launch of AMD Changing the Game, the first initiative of the newly formed AMD Foundation. The AMD Changing the Game program is intended to improve critical technical and life skills by teaching kids to develop digital games with social content. The program is rooted in AMD’s commitment and experience in supporting education with the company’s passion and expertise in the gaming industry. The program’s launch accompanies AMD’s sponsorship and participation at the Fifth Annual Games for Change Festival to be held June 3 - 4 at Parsons The New School for Design in New York City.

AMD Changing the Game is a natural fit for AMD, which features products powering the visual experience of the two most popular gaming consoles in the world today1 and which recently launched AMD GAME!, a program designed to help consumers select perfectly suited PCs for high-definition gaming.

“We have a tremendous opportunity to harness the passion that kids have for gaming while teaching the skills they need to be successful in our 21st Century digital economy,” said Dirk Meyer, AMD president and chief operating officer.

In addition to technical skills such as science, technology, engineering and math, digital games can be used to help teach youth how to be more engaged citizens, to see conflict from another’s viewpoint and find positive ways to respond to challenging social issues such as poverty, hunger, disease, energy conservation, water use and global warming.

“Today’s youth are highly concerned about social issues and the current generation of youth gamers is among the most socially conscious in history,” said Suzanne Seggerman, co-founder and president of Games for Change. “The movement toward educating and engaging youth through digital games for change not only raises awareness of the importance of social issues, but gives youth an opportunity to make a difference. As this movement continues to build momentum, we believe that partnerships and grant support from leading technology companies like AMD will be critical to its success.”

Through AMD Changing the Game, AMD Foundation grants will go to nonprofit organizations that inspire young people learn while creating games with social content. Employees will also support the initiative through volunteer opportunities. In its pilot year, the following organizations will be funded:

Girlstart, is an Austin, TX-based nonprofit organization created to empower middle and high school girls to excel in math, science, and technology. In the summer of 2008, the AMD Foundation’s grant will enable 60 Girlstart participants to attend a program focused on games with social content. As a capstone project, girls will be creating a social awareness event in Teen Second Life, a virtual gathering place for teens 13-17 all over the world to make friends, play, learn and create. The Girlstart team will identify a social issue of importance to them and create an event in Teen Second Life that will help raise awareness and inspire action around the issue.

Global Kids, is a Brooklyn, NY-based nonprofit organization that seeks to transform urban youth into successful students and global and community leaders. Through its grant to Global Kids’ Playing for Keeps program, AMD has joined The Microsoft Corporation in enabling 20 young people from underserved communities to work with game developers to develop, create and distribute a game about the heroic role of residents following Hurricane Katrina. Last year, young people worked with developers in the Playing for Keeps program to create the game Ayiti: The Cost of Life which allows players to assume the role of impoverished people living in rural Haiti with the goal of meeting some key health, education and quality of life challenges.

Institute for Urban Game Design, is a Washington, DC-based nonprofit organization teaching science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills through the hands-on creation of digital games. Beginning in the summer of 2008, the AMD Foundation’s grant will enable IUGD participants to apply their learning in 3-D modeling, animation and computer programming to the development of a game focused on the issue of energy usage. Students will learn about and explore the social issues associated with different types of energy.

Science Buddies is a national, non-profit organization based in California's Silicon Valley offering a variety of web-based tools that help K-12 students explore science through research-based projects often done at Science Fairs and other school and community events. AMD Foundation’s grant will enable Science Buddies to launch a Video and Computer Games Interest Area on its site aimed at helping students understand and practice what is required to design digital games. AMD volunteers will work with Science Buddies staff scientists to develop project ideas to spark student interest in exploring topics such as human behavior in games, ergonomics, game design and programming and the incorporation of social or educational content in games.

As part of launching the Games for Change Festival, the AMD Foundation, in partnership with the John G. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, is sponsoring “Let the Games Begin,” a day-long workshop for nonprofit organizations focusing on how to create social issue games. The workshop will feature interactive lectures by some of the nation’s leading authorities on social issue game development and cover fundamentals such as game design, fundraising, evaluation, youth participation, distribution and press strategies.

Following the Festival, the AMD Foundation and Games for Change plan to co-produce a how-to digital toolkit for nonprofits that includes examples of games with social content, interviews with key experts and additional guidance for nonprofits creating social issue games for the first time.

AMD is also working with PETLab, a joint project of Games for Change and Parsons The News School, to create a social issue game development curriculum for youth. The curriculum is expected to be piloted in the fall of 2008.

Intel and Nvidia headed for licensing stand-off

This started out as a rumor today, but Intel has since more-or-less confirmed that licensing discussions between Intel and Nvidia for Intel's next-generation processors are not going well and the resulting conflict could have implications for high-end gaming PCs.

The story is that Intel and Nvidia are currently negotiating technology licenses for Nehalem, Intel's next-generation desktop CPU due out at the end of this year. As we were told from multiple desktop vendors who wish to remain nameless, Intel wants to license SLI from Nvidia for its Nehalem chipsets, and if Nvidia won't, Intel will withhold the license that would enable Nvidia to support Nehalem's memory controller, and thus Nehalem, on its own chipsets.


We have no official confirmation from Nvidia on this, and Intel's statement from PR manager Dan Snyder is vague, but it lends credence to the story:


"There is a disagreement between Intel and Nvidia as to the scope of Nvidia's license from Intel to make chipsets compatible with Intel microprocessors. Intel is trying to resolve the disagreement privately with Nvidia and therefore we will not provide additional details. It is our hope that this dispute will be resolved amicably and that it will not impact other areas of our companies' working relationship."


Intel has been after SLI support for its chipsets for years, but has thus far only been able to build it into its ultra high-end Skulltrail motherboards, seemingly a one-off. With SLI available across all of its chipset lines, Intel would be able to sell motherboards that support both AMD's and Nvidia's multigraphics card technologies. Right now Intel boards (with the exception of Skulltrail) only support AMD's CrossFire.


Nvidia, on the other hand, has kept SLI close, often citing compatibility and certification concerns as the reason why no other chipset vendor has been able to offer SLI-capability. But if Nvidia loses out on Nehalem for its next-generation chipsets, the high-end desktop market will become more fragmented than it's been in years. Nvidia has been able to offer SLI-supporting chipsets for both AMD and Intel processors, but if this split happens, on one side we'll have Nehalem and CrossFire-based systems, the other will offer SLI (and possibly CrossFire, if hacks used in the past continue to work) and AMD CPUs.


In light of this rumor, Nvidia's recent marketing push encouraging upgraders to pick a graphics card before a quad-core CPU takes on new significance. If Nvidia knows high-end PC gamers will have to make a choice later this year, better to plant the seeds in its favor early. Intel probably has less to worry about, because gamers who demand SLI with a fast Intel processor can still use Nvidia's NForce 790i chipset, which supports the current generation of Intel Core 2 Extreme chips.

AMD Stream SDK now supports GPU programming for Linux

The new beta version 1.1 of the AMD Stream development environment incorporates support for Linux. The software development kit (SDK) allows current AMD graphic chips to be used for carrying out processor-intensive tasks. The new Stream version is already on AMD's FTP servers, but there is no link to it yet on the corresponding web site. Besides the conventional Windows version, AMD is also offering version 1.1 beta in 32- and 64-bit versions for the Red Hat Enterprise 5.1 and Suse Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP1 Linux distributions.


AMD has added support not just for Linux, but also for the FireStream 9170 stream-processing graphics card, which is tailored for dealing with complex calculations. Microsoft's Visual Studio 2008 is also now supported, at least provisionally. The Brook+ compiler now handles integer mathematical operations and enables line numbering to simplify BR data debugging. According to AMD, several errors (not described in detail) have been eliminated, and speed has been optimized. AMD Stream contains all the tools required for programming Stream processors.

Nvidia is offering a similar suite with its CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture), that supports programming current Nvidia GPUs. According to Nvidia's CUDA Zone developer portal, most of the applications so far published fall within the areas of astrophysics and molecular dynamics. (jk/c't)

EC denies 'provisional decision' on Intel anti-trust probe

The anti-trust arm of the European Commission today denied that it had reached any provisional decision in its ongoing probe of Intel’s marketing and sales practices.

EC competition spokesman Jonathan Todd said: "There is no provisional or internal decision on this case. The investigation is very much active and ongoing," reports Reuters.

He slammed The Financial Times Deutschland newspaper, which cited Brussels sources, for providing misleading information and described the report as "irresponsible journalism".

The newspaper had said that the European Union anti-trust authority planned to take action against Intel’s marketing and sales practices by this summer. It reckoned that decision had already been made by EU commissioner Neelie Kroes because the EC had gathered enough evidence against the world’s biggest chip maker following a lawsuit by rival AMD.

The paper also claimed that the EU would prevent Intel from marketing its microprocessors to PC vendors at a marked down price, and that the authority would forbid the company from subsidising retailer's advertising costs.

The EU has been sniffing around Intel's business practices in Europe for six years, but the investigation got a second wind in 2005 when AMD formally accused its arch-rival of using illegal tactics to dominate the PC and server markets.

In July last year the EU filed formal anti-trust charges against Intel.

Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy told Reuters yesterday: "We continue to work with the Commission to attempt to convince them that our business practices are well within the law." ®

IBM Unveils New x86 Servers With Quad-Core AMD Opteron(TM) Processors

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced three IBM System x(TM) servers featuring the Quad-Core AMD Opteron(TM) processor.

All of the new servers provide the IT efficiency needed in a new enterprise data center, with the System x3755

delivering 15 percent better performance than its predecessor.


IBM is delivering new Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor-based systems that offer exceptional power-efficiency,

performance and virtualization capabilities for today's most demanding datacenters. These include:



-- The System x3455 offers leading memory performance with 48 GB of
memory, making it ideal for technical and financial applications. With
today's announcement of the addition of Quad-Core processors, the x3455 is
now more competitive for high performance computing.

-- The System x3655 is now more effective for business performance
computing and memory-intensive applications such as database,
virtualization and dynamic web serving.

-- The new System x3755 leverages a unique modular design to scale to
four sockets more affordably. Its flexible design allows customers to
increase the size of their system as their databases, virtualization
environments and collaboration applications grow. The x3755 provides a
three socket configuration that outperforms many competitive four socket
configurations.



The new servers are an important element in helping clients develop a new enterprise data center, which offers

dramatic improvements in IT efficiency and provides for rapid deployment of new IT services to support future

business growth. IBM is helping clients move to new enterprise data centers by focusing on best practices around

virtualization, green IT, service management and cloud computing.

"IBM continues to deliver innovation and choice in the x86 market with today's introduction of System x servers

based on AMD's new Quad-Core processors," said James Northington, vice president, IBM System x. "The new System

x3755 allows clients to grow the system along with their business, affordably scaling from the standard two socket

system to three and four socket configurations while delivering industry leading price and performance."

"The addition of Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor-based servers will help continue IBM's tradition of enhancing its

customers' competitiveness through innovative, high-performing computing solutions," said Randy Allen, Senior Vice

President of CSG, AMD. "Datacenter managers are increasingly seeking a balance of performance, energy-efficiency,

and advanced virtualization functionality in order to optimize server resources amidst skyrocketing power, cooling

and space costs. The Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor is at the forefront of addressing this new paradigm of

datacenter performance."



Pricing and Availability

The IBM System x3455, x3655 and x3755 will be available with Quad-Core AMD Opteron(TM) processors in June, starting

at $1,809, $2,499 and $3,407 respectively.



AMD, the AMD Arrow logo, AMD Opteron and combinations thereof, are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Other

names are for informational purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Intel Confirms Chip Component Delay

Intel(INTC - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) confirmed that it is delaying the release of certain components at the heart of its forthcoming notebook PC package of chips.

The Santa Clara, Calif., chipmaker said the delay affects the integrated graphics processing and wireless chips in its so-called Montevina product, and will result in certain parts shipping a few weeks behind schedule.

The move doesn't affect Intel's financial forecast for the current quarter, and the company doesn't anticipate any change to its full-year forecast, said company spokesman Tom Beerman.

Shares of Intel were off 40 cents at $23.20 in recent trading Wednesday.

Earlier this week, analysts reported signs of trouble in Montevina, the code name of the new version of Centrino, the bundle of chips that Intel offers as a package of key electronic ingredients for notebook PCs.

Intel's Beerman confirmed that the company is retesting the graphics processing chips to address certain issues, while a "paperwork error" involving filings with the Federal Communications Commission means that the wireless component of Montevina will be also held up slightly.

Intel had initially promised to ship Montevina in the first half of 2008. The company now says it will ship the notebook microprocessor and other related Montevina chips on July 14. The rest of the components will ship a few weeks later, sometime in the first week of August, said Beerman.

He said that PC makers could fill out Intel's Montevina by incorporating graphics and WiFi components from other suppliers.

Whether or not other chipmakers have components that are compatible with Montevnia, which is a new product, isn't clear. If the chips are not compatible, PC makers may have to go with an entirely different bundle of chips until Intel can offer the complete package, says analyst Jon Peddie of Jon Peddie Research.
And the fact that Intel is missing the component for integrated graphics, which accounts for the bulk of the notebook PC market, could present rival Advanced Micro Devices(AMD - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) with an opportunity to grab some market share.

"Every company in the industry has a hiccup from time to time. It's just the nature of the business" says Peddie. "The only thing that makes this one annoying and maybe a little scary is the fact that there is this timing for the back-to-school [sales] rollout."