AMD to Ditch the ATI Brand for Radeon Graphics

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?