AMD Announces Opteron 6100 PartnersAMD Announces Opteron 6100 Partners

Advanced Micro Devices on Wednesday tried to take the limelight from Intel's newly released six-core processors by listing partner support for its eight- and 12-core processors set for release by the end of the month.

AMD's list of motherboard vendors and second-tier and niche server makers was released a day after Intel released its Xeon 5600 series microprocessors, which included the company's first six-core server chips. Missing from AMD's lineup are tier-one vendors Dell, Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Oracle, which recently acquired Sun Microsystems. Announcements from those vendors, however, could come later.

For now, server vendors ready to ship systems powered by AMD's Opteron 6100 Series processor, code-named Magny-Cours, include Appro, Atipa Technologies, Colfax, Directron, Microway, Nortech, Penguin Computing, Servers Direct, Silicon Graphics International, Silicon Mechanics and ZT Systems. Supporting motherboard vendors include ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI, Super Micro Computer, and Tyan.

The Opteron 6100 Series, built for two- and four-socket servers, will be partnered with AMD's SR5690 chipset. While AMD has not released pricing, executive have promised that it would be "aggressive."

In releasing new products, AMD and Intel are looking to grab a slice of what's expected to be a stronger corporate market than last year, which was ravaged by the economic recession. While companies are not expected to increase spending dramatically, an uptick is expected from businesses ready to upgrade older systems.

In the fourth quarter of last year, commercial shipments of PC grew at just under 1% year-over-year, according to IDC. The positive result provided a "glimpse of an anticipated commercial refresh in 2010."

Both chip makers are marketing their respective products as delivering better performance while using less power. In addition, the new chips are expected to help companies run more software in fewer boxes through server virtualization.