AMD launches alternative to Itanium

NEW YORK: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Inc. has taken a step forward in its effort to enter the market for supplying microchips for data-serving business computers, introducing a trial version of its new chip and saying IBM's database software will work with its product.

The moves came as AMD President and Chief Executive Hector Ruiz kicked off the LinuxWorld technology conference in New York with a pitch that the company's new chip, the Opteron, was a powerful alternative to the offerings of Intel Corp. the world's largest chipmaker.

Opteron can process 64 bits of information at one time, twice as many as most current computers, and will compete with Intel's 64-bit offering, the Itanium. Both chips are designed for powerful business computers that can cost upward of $100,000 and which handle complex tasks like managing databases and other business software applications.

Intel's chip is a clean break from the basic architecture that has powered the PC era. AMD, however, has introduced Opteron as a continuation of that architecture, known as x86, and is said to be better able to handle software packages that were designed for older, 32-bit computers.

"We believe in preserving our customers' data from architecture to architecture, from application to application," Ruiz said.

Simultaneous with Ruiz's speech, AMD said a 64-bit version of IBM's database software for servers, DB2 Universal Database was available in a trial version for computers based on the Opteron processor. The company also said it would make available as many as 500 Opteron-based computers to computer system builders and potential customers.

Speaking at LinuxWorld, Ruiz said that chipmakers need to take a page from Linux, the open-source software that incorporates the best additions and changes from software developers.

© Reuters