HPCwire: AMD Offers New Opterons

The Leading Source for Global News and Information Covering the Ecosystem of High Productivity Computing

Leading HPC
Solution Providers

HPCwire >> Off the Wire

April 27, 2007

AMD Offers New Opterons

Company Also Updates 'Barcelona' Quad-Core Performance Projections

Sunnyvale, Calif., April 23 -- Marking with the fourth anniversary of the launch of the AMD Opteron processor and AMD64 technology, AMD today announced widespread availability and pricing for the performance-leading AMD Opteron Model 2222 and 8222 SE x86 dual-core server processors. The new processor, which is available in several platform configurations today from tier one OEMs, is designed to deliver performance leadership in the most critical server functions including Web serving, scalability and floating point calculations.

AMD also disclosed updated performance projections for its upcoming native Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors, code-named 'Barcelona.' The new Barcelona projections are based on the latest SPECcpu2006 benchmarks and show that AMD expects to have up to a 50 percent advantage in floating point performance and 20 percent in integer performance over the competition's highest-performing quad-core processor at the same frequency. These results, as well as the latest benchmark tests, based on AMD Opteron Model 2222 and 8222 SE processors can be found at www.amd.com/opteronperformance.

"Today's announcement further demonstrates AMD's commitment to delivering excellence and represents continued innovation along the customer-directed path we blazed four years ago; we provide the complete x86 processor architectural standard others in the industry are trying to emulate and we have planned a seamless upgrade path to native quad-core for delivery to the market in mid-year," said Randy Allen, corporate vice president, Server and Workstation Business, AMD. "With our native quad-core technology, AMD continues to build off of a consistent architecture and will deliver more than just four processing cores. We believe our enhanced architecture will deliver increased performance and performance-per-watt without forcing disruptive platform transitions. Investment protection continues to be a central focus of our customer-centric design principles."

In commemoration of the four-year anniversary of the AMD Opteron processor, visitors can go to www.amd.com/opteronanniversary for a glimpse of what the world may have looked like had there been no AMD Opteron processors and no x86 server processor choice.

Performance-Per-Watt Leadership

As performance-per-watt also continues to be a critical issue for IT decision-makers in addition to raw performance, AMD recently launched the AMD Platform Power Calculator. By leveraging this tool, customers can compare estimated power consumption of servers based on AMD Opteron processors that span all thermal envelopes, 68, 95 and 120 watt, and similar servers based on dual-core processors from the competition. To learn more about how AMD Opteron processors help you get more performance using less power, visit http://enterprise.amd.com/Flash/PlatformPower.html.

x86 Virtualization

This balanced approach to system architecture is why the combination of AMD Virtualization technology and Direct Connect Architecture provides enhanced virtualization performance. Multiple operating systems running on a single server compete for physical resources, which can exacerbate the performance bottlenecks inherent in other architectures and slow response time for users. Therefore, legacy processor architectures based on a traditional front-side bus are simply not ideal for today's virtualization needs.

Widespread Hardware Partner Support

Today, the industry's leading original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) announced continued support for AMD Opteron processors: "AMD's focus on stability, longevity and performance delivers value to customers who rely on AMD Opteron processor-based HP ProLiant servers and blades to run their business," said Paul Miller, vice president, marketing, Industry Standard Servers and BladeSystem Division, HP. "HP's leadership in delivering a broad portfolio of x86 servers and blades based on the AMD Opteron Model 8222 SE and the upcoming 'Barcelona' processor positions customers to achieve maximum performance of their business-critical applications and virtualize their networks."

"As the first company to embrace AMD Opteron processors in 2003, we are gratified to see the impact AMD has had in the datacenter over the last four years. During that time, IBM and AMD have both benefited from our strong alliance, not only at the system level, but also through our technology partnership that is helping to drive the manufacturing of the next generation of AMD processors," said Alex Yost, director, IBM System x. "AMD Opteron processors have been integral to some of our most innovative recent product introductions, including our scalable snap-on blades and Xcelerated Memory Technology. We look forward to continuing our track record of collaborative innovation later this year when AMD's quad-core 'Barcelona' processors are introduced."

"AMD and Sun's partnership has been instrumental in helping Sun continue to build tremendous momentum with its x64 business," said Lisa Sieker, vice president of marketing, Systems Group, Sun Microsystems. "Through extensive collaboration, we have been able to optimize systems for the AMD Opteron Model 2222 and 8222 SE processors, in addition to systems based on the upcoming launch of Barcelona. We're excited to continue this strategic partnership through our broad line of x64 systems and the Solaris 10 Operating System, delivering the breakthrough performance and architecture of AMD Opteron processors."

"We're committed to helping customers simplify their IT operations and overcome infrastructure constraints and lifecycle costs so they can focus on what's important – growing their business," said Jay Parker, director of PowerEdge Servers, Dell Product Group. "Solutions like the AMD-based PowerEdge 2970 and PowerEdge Energy Smart 2970 servers give customers the performance they need while helping to reduce energy consumption, complexity and overall lifecycle costs through a simplified upgrade path to multi-core platforms."

Pricing

For pricing information, visit www.amd.com/pricing.

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 www.amd.com.

-----

Source: AMD

Article Tools

Share & Save Options

Discussion

There are 0 discussion items posted.

Join the Discussion

You must be a registered user in order to comment on HPCWire stories.

Members enjoy:

	Access to Special Content, including Podcasts, Webcasts, and Whitepapers and more!
	Ability to take an active role in the discussions that are shaping the HPC technology discipline!
	Special offers available only to HPCWire members!

Become a Registered User Today!

Registered Users Log in Here to Comment

Email Address:	Password (case sensitive)

Remember me	Forgot Password?

RSS Feeds

Feeds by Topic

Feeds by Industry

Feeds by Content Type

Feature Articles

'Coopetition' Helps the UK HPC Market Go 'Round

The size and diversity of the HPC market in the United States supports a varied set of system providers and integrators. But in Europe, and the United Kingdom in particular, the market has a different shape.
Read More...

The Week in Review

PRACE to evaluate petaflops prototypes; Acadamic roundtable discusses the computing industry's talent pool; and WRF benchmark data are released. John West recaps those stories and more in our weekly wrap-up.
Read More...

Semantic Supercomputing Reaps Competitive Advantage from Patent Data

Since the first patent was issued for a Venetian statue in 1471, 60 million patents have been awarded around the world, with four million patents actively in force today worldwide. And 800,000 new inventions are registered every year. While the data is public, current search tools are inconvenient and inadequate to the needs of professionals. Semantic supercomputing techniques are helping researchers tackle this difficult challenge.
Read More...

Read more HPCwire features...

Top Headlines

25 Years of Conventional Evaluation of Data Analysis Proves Worthless In Practice

Sep 05 | Uppsala University | Swedish researchers are revealing that "intelligent" computer-based methods for classifying patient samples is worthless when it comes to practical problems. Read more...

Three Dimensional Scans Could Revolutionise Brain Surgery

Sep 03 | Telegraph.co.uk | A new form of three dimensional scans could revolutionise brain surgery within a year, doctors claim. Read more...

Marching Penguins: Monitoring Your HPC Cluster

Sep 03 | Linux Magazine | In HPC, most attention is paid to utilization and performance, rather than service availability and problem notification. This article focuses on the latter Read more...

Big Data: Welcome to the Petacentre

Sep 03 | Nature News | What does it take to store bytes by the tens of thousands of trillions? Read more...

UD Scientist Finds Quicker Computer On-Ramp

Sep 01 | Delaware Online | In the world of supercomputer-powered science, speed is everything, and an open road can lead to the promised land. Read more...

Read more headlines...

Featured Whitepapers

SUSE® Linux Enterprise Server for High Performance Computing

Sep 05 | | The excellent scalability features of Linux, in addition to robust security and performance makes it an excellent choice for server systems, especially in the high performance computing area.

“Going Parallel - An Implementation Guide”

Sep 01 | | The paper outlines the basic steps and tools involved in the process of migrating a desktop application to a parallel environment.

Improving Performance and Manageability for Seismic Processing and Imaging Applications with Parallel Storage

Jun 05 | | As pressure increases on the upstream seismic processing community to deliver ever-higher levels of productivity and efficiency, a new generation of storage solutions will be required that allow the maximum utilisation of high-performance computing (HPC) Linux cluster resources, together with the minimum of management overhead.

View the White Paper Library

Multimedia

Video White Paper: Architecting a Better Network Storage Solution

BlueArc's Titan architecture represents an evolutionary step in file servers by creating a hardware-based file system that can scale bandwidth, IOPS, and overall data capacity well beyond conventional software-based devices. With its ability to virtualize a massive storage pool of up to four usable petabytes of tiered storage, Titan can scale with growing data requirements, offering a competitive advantage for businesses, researchers, or other enterprises seeking to better manage data growth while still ensuring optimal performance.

Podcast: Interview with Ben Bennett of ClearSpeed Technology

Today, HPC organizations are requiring substantially more floating point performance to solve real-world problems. In this podcast, Ben Bennett, ClearSpeed General Manager, discusses how acceleration technology can improve the overall performance of standard x86-based systems...