AMD stakes Linux server claim

Chip maker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) staked its claim for a share of the Linux server market at the LinuxWorld Expo in New York yesterday.

Delivering the opening keynote address at the show, AMD president and chief executive Hector Ruiz presented an array of high-profile AMD customers and partners as he looked to underpin the company's push into the server market and its planned 64bit processor.

AMD's Opteron 64bit processor is expected later this year, when it will compete with Intel's current Itanium 2 processor. The firm has long made inroads into Intel's dominance in the PC processor market, but its push into server computing is a new development.

Ruiz shared the stage with several partners and Linux advocates supporting the viability of Linux and AMD processors in an enterprise environment.

Speakers included Richard Seibt, chairman and chief executive of SuSE Linux and Wayne Kugel, director of professional services at Cray.

Ruiz also unveiled IBM's release of a 64bit beta version of its DB2 database software, optimised for AMD's Opteron processor, to run on SuSE's version of Linux.

IBM DB2 Version 8 for Linux is the first database software to support the AMD Opteron processor platform.

"DB2 customers will have a powerful alternative for 64bit computing and the ability to support 32bit as well as 64bit applications in a x86 environment," said Ruiz. The system will be ready to ship in the spring, he added.

Ruiz also took time to dismiss rival Intel's own planned 64bit Itanium processors.

"Any technology that drops legacy applications and costs too much would be called the result of arrogance by most people, but at Intel they call it Itanium," said Ruiz.