Oracle has announced support for AMD's latest Opteron processor with a release of its 9i Database running 32-bit Linux designed for the processor architecture.

The database giant said that all of its other software products, including Oracle 9i Application Server, Oracle Collaboration Suite and Oracle E-Business Suite, will be available on 32-bit Linux and Windows in upcoming months.

Initial tests by the company show that its software gains performance benefits from Opteron features including the integrated memory controller and HyperTransport technology.

"The availability of Oracle software on the AMD Opteron processor platform offers customers flexibility in their strategy to move to 64-bit computing and enables them to protect current and future technology investments," said Brom Mahbod, vice president of the Enterprise Platforms Division at Oracle.

Opteron allows companies to run both 32-bit and 64-bit applications on the same platform, offering an easy migration to 64-bit computing.

According to Oracle, enterprises can initially choose Oracle 9i Database technology on a 32-bit operating system running on Opteron processors.

They can then upgrade their Oracle database and operating system to 64-bit computing on the same Opteron-based system, usually with little change to their applications.

Matthew Eastwood, research director at analyst IDC, said in a statement: "IDC's workloads research has consistently shown that many customers continue to deploy database solutions in 32-bit computing environments.

"Oracle's support of AMD's Opteron processor will allow customers to gain additional headroom for these databases without moving off platform.

"This approach offers tremendous advantages for many customers faced with expensive database conversions."

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