AMD to Ditch the ATI Brand for Radeon Graphics
Goodbye, ATI.
The ATI brand has been around the computing space for as long as many of us can remember. Four years ago, AMD acquired ATI but left the name to live on due to its strong brand in the graphics space. Now those days are over, as the graphics division at the chipmaker is at its strongest.
AMD confirmed that it will be phasing out the ATI brand later this year, though it will hang on to the Radeon and FirePro names. Apparently, the names Radeon and FirePro themselves are strong in markets and that ATI label itself isn't as important as AMD.
According to its own research sources, people's preference for AMD triples when he or she is aware of the ATI merger. Not only that, but the AMD brand itself is stronger than ATI's when it is compared to competitors, such as Nvidia. Given this sort of data, AMD decided that now was the perfect time to retire the ATI name.
Besides just the market research surrounding the strength of the AMD brand, the company's reason to consolidate it all under the single name is the blurring of lines between its CPU and GPU offerings. With AMD pushing that the future is Fusion, it seemed like the right time to ditch the graphics branding before the technologies are combined in the upcoming Llano and Ontario chips.
Say goodbye to the old logos and say hello to the new ones with the ATI stamp. Note that there will also be versions of the logo completely devoid of any AMD branding as well, which were created supposedly at the request of OEMs not wanting to confuse the customer at how a single computer could have both an Intel and AMD sticker at the same time.
"We may be saying goodbye to the brand, but the spirit of ATI lives on – in our AMD Radeon and AMD FirePro graphics products, our VISION Technology platforms and soon, in every AMD Fusion APU," said John Volkmann, Corporate Vice President, Brand Marketing, AMD.
How do you feel about the old, familiar ATI brand being sent out to pasture?
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Makes sense...
It's going to be strange not having the name ATI around.
I would concur that the timing is right for this. ATI hasn't existed for several years since AMD bought them out in, I think it was 2006. Additionally, AMD has really brought the fight to Nvidia and is poised to be a leader in GPU technology (and I used to be a hardcore Nvidia fanboy!). Not only is the RADEON name the more recognized part of the brand, pairing AMD with RADEON (and FirePro) will help make AMD an even stronger brand which will help in their competition with Intel in the CPU realm.
Lame, "Radeon" just isn't as cool "ATI", and its not gonna be the same when people reference Nvidia and AMD : /
Hmmm....so long as the Radeon name is still used, I don't feel like it's THAT big of a change. To me, Radeon is synonymous with ATI. Even if it is left unbadged.
Should have done this last year, but whatever...
Smart move with Fusion on the horizon.
/Agree with Eman25th. I like to think of it as AMD/Intel and ATI/Nvidia. Don't like the blurring of the waters. Though... whatever the naming scheme... You have got to be glad AMD/ATI is around in the first place as to give Intel and Nvidia a run for their money.
Lame, "Radeon" just isn't as cool "ATI", and its not gonna be the same when people reference Nvidia and AMD : /
Well, you're thinking more along the lines of nostalgia rather than marketing. I know that in tech circles, more and more, people are saying, "Radeon" or "HD 5xxx" rather than ATI. Really, if you get down two it, you're only substituting two letters the entire brand name.
Hopefully the name catylst will go away too, catylst sucks. get a real videocard driver name! you will for surely sell more cards
I just recently bought my fist ATI card in years, since the Rage-128 and was plesently supprised at how competitive the company is with NVidia. I do think that this is a loss of a great name but using only AMD will help the consumer. I do however think the old ATI logo are better looking then the new AMD.
While it will be strange we won't have ATI anymore, it's probably a smart marketing and image branding move.
We'll have to say goodbye to ATI, and remember a roller coaster ride of ups and downs. Radeon will always be ATI to me, and I imagine I'll be talking to a kid 20 years from now and mention ATI, and the kid will have no idea what I'm talking about. Manly tears.
So long ATI, you'll always be a competitor in spirit and your name will forever emblazon red in our minds.
It was bound to happen, though it took longer than I thought it was. I think people that have come to know ATI and nVidia's rivalry will have Radeon synonymous with ATI until AMD changes the name in the future.
as said above. very smart move with fusion. amd being able to market thier own graphics cards under thier owm name instead of calling it ati means amd can market fusion better stating thier graphics cards will work in parallel (or some other word thier marketing dept chooses as most peoplre won't know what crossfire is) with thier cpu/gpu combo while intel will likely have a cpu/gpu combo unless they pull some kind of amazing gpu out of the bag.. or try to patch things with nvidia for thier onboard gpu to sli to an nvidia card then both nvidia and intel could lose signifigant market share... if amd markets it right that is which is unfortunatly not thier strongsuite ... AMD commercial to promote this with fusion .. make it happen jf amd you hear me!
When I think of Radeon or when someone says they have a Radeon xxxx, like everyone else here we all know that's ATI. I think the problem is the basic computer user doesn't really know who or what ATI is and does well AMD is a slightly better known brand name to them. Either way when people ask me what brand of GPU I prefer I'm still going to say ATI
Intel (CPU) + AMD (GPU) Notebooks
What would a intel fanboy say about that?
Personally I was surprised they didn't do this at the time of merging since the goal of the buyout was fusion. But I am proud of AMD for doing market research before phasing out the ATI name. Something they didn't do as strongly in the past.
It's going to be strange not having the name ATI around.
I agree, but I'm strongly in favor of AMD doing this, and I completely understand why. AMD Radeon will help give AMD a lot of support, since people already know and love Radeon graphics. Oh well... like coleipoo said, ten or twenty years from now the name ATI will be lost to the sands of time, but their graphics and Radeon will live on at least.
Say goodbye to the old logos and say hello to the new ones with the ATI stamp. Note that there will also be versions of the logo completely devoid of any AMD branding as well, which were created supposedly at the request of OEMs not wanting to confuse the customer at how a single computer could have both an Intel and AMD sticker at the same time.
Gotta love the stupid public. I guess it's for the better, though.
On a side note, I love their new case stickers. I'm going to have to get me some of those.
Hopefully the name catylst will go away too, catylst sucks. get a real videocard driver name! you will for surely sell more cards
And you think NVidia's "Detonator" is better?
Sigh another great brand gets the axe. I still remember STB and Power VR. I still got a few trident cards around. ATI will be missed but not forgotten.
Nearer My God To Thee
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JvJJCw4Plg
Hopefully the name catylst will go away too, catylst sucks. get a real videocard driver name! you will for surely sell more cards
I, for one, think that Catalyst is a great name for this type of software...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalyst
...due to the fact that a Catalyst (in chemistry, at least) is something that speeds up a reaction process.
Green AMD
Red AMD?
I love these colors
I remember when i could proudly wave the canadian ATI flag.... *sigh*. The ATI brand died when AMD bought them, mine as well stop playing pretend. Its not like changing the name will change the great products they've been making.
ATi is still ATi to me
Makes sense from a unified platform decision. No big deal in my opinion.
I like the look of the old logo better.
I'm surprised the ATI brand has been retained for this long. Good move by AMD.
The name will be missed. And unless Fusion is truly something phenomenal we will be missing out on a lot more in the future IMHO.
And the new "badging" isn't as attractive. Don't think it's worth case space on my new custom build.
Its just a name.. same brand.. and intel fanboys that like Radeon Graphics will die!!!!!!! because they have AMD and Intel
I'll miss ATI :-(
Hopefully the name catylst will go away too, catylst sucks. get a real videocard driver name! you will for surely sell more cards
I don't know anyone that has ever based their GPU decision, even in part, on the name the company chooses for its drivers.