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On May 20, 2006, US-based Dell Computers
(Dell), the world’s largest PC manufacturer, announced its
plans to enter into a deal with Advanced Micro Devices1
(AMD)
under which it would use AMD’s Opteron2 microprocessors in
the server segment. The announcement left analysts surprised
as Dell had always used microprocessors from Intel
Corporation (Intel).
Commenting on Dell’s announcement, AMD’s Senior Vice
President, Marty Seyer, said, “We welcome Dell, and Dell
customers, to the world of AMD64.” He added, “Dell is a
customer-focused company and we’re pleased to see that they
are listening to their customers and providing them the
choice of innovative AMD products.”3 Dell president and CEO
Kevin Rollins pointed to AMD’s technology lead on Intel in
the 64-bit4 category as the primary reason for the shift in
Dell’s Intel-only strategy. |
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He said, “They’ve (AMD) been getting better and better. The technology is
better. In some areas they’re now in the lead on Intel. That is what is
interesting us more than anything.”5 Dell preferred to use AMD’s Opteron
processor in the server segment as the processor had been doing extremely
well in this segment. As of May 2006, AMD had an estimated 45% share in the
four-way server6 segment in the US, which was considered to be the most
profitable segment for computer manufacturers.
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[1] Established in 1969, AMD is a leading provider of innovative
microprocessor solutions. As on March 31, 2006, the company reported
revenues of US$ 1.33 billion.
[2] Released in April 2003, Opteron is the first of AMD's processors
intended to compete in the server market.
[3] Jay Lyman, “Dell to Offer AMD Opteron-Powered Servers,”
www.technewsworld.com, May 19, 2006.
[4] AMD64 (also x86-64 or x64) is a 64-bit microprocessor architecture and
corresponding instruction set designed by Advanced Micro Devices. It is
currently implemented in AMD's Opteron and other processors like Athlon,
Turion, and Sempron.
[5] Susan B.Shor, “Dell warns Intel with talk of AMD inside,”
www.technewsworld.com, Dec 11, 2004.
[6] A four-way server provides fast performance and scalability by
supporting multiple CPUs. In this case it would support four processors. The
computer architecture used in four way servers is called SMP (Symmetric
Multiprocessing).
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