A number of initiatives targeted at strengthening its position across multiple facets of computing technology have been launched by Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD), Sunnyvale CA.
These include:
*Next-generation microprocessor architecture.
*System-level technology to enable greater interoperability and value-added design opportunities for partners.
*Advances in manufacturing and process technologies.
*Plans for a new high-performance enthusiast platform.
AMD says it has developed a strategic system-level technology initiative, called Torrenza, that is the industry’s first open, customer-centric x86 innovation platform. Capitalizing on the Direct Connect Architecture and HyperTransport capabilities of the AMD64 architecture, it will enable other processor and hardware providers to innovate within a common framework.
Torrenza will enable a global innovation community to develop and deploy application-specific co-processors to work alongside AMD processors in multi-socket systems.
The first phase is nearly complete via an earlier HyperTransport investment that enabled partner silicon chipsets. The next phase will entail licensing of coherent HyperTransport to members of a global ecosystem; developments already in progress include support for an HTX expansion slot.
Torrenza gives OEMs new abilities to differentiate server and client systems through innovation on the AMD64 platform, AMD says.
“In 2003, AMD started down a path to reinventing the microprocessor industry with the introduction of our AMD64 architecture,” AMD Chairman and CEO Hector Ruiz says. “And with unprecedented customer and market momentum, we are accelerating on that path with game-changing strategies to expand our capacity, extend our system-level performance and performance-per-watt leadership, and provide a simpler, more open and “innovation-friendly” x86-based platform to those who want to collaborate in the development of differentiated, customer-centric solutions.”
“While we are extremely gratified by the customer acceptance and market success we have enjoyed, considering the environment in which we are competing, we remain focused and are steadily and methodically executing against our business goals,” President and COO Dirk Meyer says.
The new initiatives cover a wide array of technologies and markets, including server, desktop and mobile computing and from silicon to software.
Key industry partners including Alienware, Cray, HP, Rackable Systems, Sun Microsystems and VMware, participated with AMD executives in a recent analyst event to underscore the significance of the initiatives.
The new enthusiast platform, code named 4×4, uses a four-core, multi-socket processor configuration made possible via AMD’s Direct Connect Architecture. The platform will be upgradable to eight total processor cores when AMD launches quad-core processors in 2007.
The technology is intended for ultimate multi-tasking performance across gaming, digital video, processor-intensive and heavily-threaded applications, AMD says.
The firm’s next-generation architecture for servers, workstations and desktops, planned to debut in mid-2007, is expected to extend what AMD says is its leadership in platform performance-per-watt as well as its leadership in critical enterprise application performance.
Products will include a quad-core design for servers, workstations and high-end desktops, and a dual-core design for mainstream desktops. The processors will use advanced 65nm silicon-on-insulator process, and include a broad range of functionality and micro-architectural improvements, including a new ability to dynamically alter the frequency of each core on the chip to match application workloads and reduce overall power consumption.
AMD says it expects to increase the performance-per-watt of today’s Opteron processor-powered servers by 60 percent through 2007 and 150 percent through 2008.
