AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced that Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) is now offering five server platforms based on high-performance, energy-efficient Quad-Core AMD Opteron™ processors. This news follows last week’s announcement that Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors are generally available, and brings the number of available global OEM platforms based on the new processors to 13. Additionally, AMD is announcing today that VMware has completed qualification of Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors for use in VMware ESX and ESXi hypervisor deployments, enabling customers to leverage the latest in VMware virtualization on these server systems.
“Dell is delivering on its vision to simplify IT by providing customers with a seamless and simple upgrade path to Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors on PowerEdge servers,” said Brad Anderson, senior vice president, Dell Business Product Group. “The combination of AMD’s most advanced processors running on Dell PowerEdge servers provides an optimal balance of performance and energy efficiency across a variety of customer solutions, from general purpose and remote office to high-performance compute clusters and virtualized data center environments.”
“As Dell expands its AMD Opteron processor-based server portfolio, we continue our strong collaboration to reduce IT complexity and delivering world-class performance-per-watt,” said Randy Allen, corporate vice president and general manager, Server and Workstation Division, AMD. “These latest Dell platforms based on Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors, in combination with VMware’s qualification, are important milestones for business customers looking for an ideal platform for virtualization.”
Updated and New Platforms from Dell
Dell servers now supporting Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors include the PowerEdge SC1435, 2970, M605 blade server and 6950 platforms, as well as the new PowerEdge T605 tower server. The T605, aimed at small and medium businesses or remote locations, offers features such as hot-plug hard drives, remote management and redundant power supplies, resulting in high-availability systems that help prevent data access loss and increase uptime.
Dell’s PowerEdge SC1435, 2970 and M605 blade server, all two-socket systems, can deliver up to 79 percent better performance compared to systems using dual-core AMD Opteron processors1. More information on Dell’s new Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor-based systems can be found at www.dell.com/poweredge.
Dell customers, such as the Holland Computing Center at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, are already recognizing the benefits the Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor delivers. Visit here (www.youtube.com/watch?v=psxHwaBY1sA) to learn how the Holland Computing Center has tripled its system performance without increasing energy consumption by upgrading its servers from dual-core to Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors.
“The VMware ESX and ESXi hypervisor on Dell PowerEdge servers fitted with AMD Opteron processors offers customers a scalable, high-performance solution suitable for running demanding application workloads,” said Raghu Raghuram, vice president of products and solutions at VMware. “Customers can now combine the Rapid Virtualization Indexing, I/O and memory bandwidth capabilities of the Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor with the VMware virtualization platform to help reduce capital and operating expenses, ensure business continuity, strengthen security and go green.”
Visit AMD on the Web
For more information on the Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor family, including FAQs, development tools, and other general information, please visit http://multicore.amd.com. Information on Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor pricing can be found at http://www.amd.com/pricing. An online press kit is available at http://www.amd.com/quadcore/presskit.
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 http://www.amd.com.
AMD, the AMD Arrow logo, AMD Opteron and combinations thereof, are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Other names are for informational purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.
1 Based on the SPECjbb®2005 benchmark test performed by Dell Labs in March 2008 with two quad-core AMD Opteron 2356 processors compared to a similarly configured server with two dual-core AMD Opteron 2222SE processors. Actual performance will vary based on configuration, usage and manufacturing variability. For the latest SPECjbb2005 benchmark results, visit www.spec.org.
