AMD's Opteron Comes Down Hard

Goodbye To Duron Apaloosa

In addition to the new branding on Hammer chips, AMD has revamped its product roadmap and effectively consigned Duron to a slow death.

The Opteron makes its appearance on AMD's new roadmap. Notice how the Duron Apaloosa core has disappeared from the roadmap to be replaced by Athlon Thoroughbred.

It's simple, sharp, and clear cut. It cuts out the deadwood, and frees AMD's resources to go into Opteron.

AMD's official line on the new roadmap is:

AMD designed the "Thoroughbred" core of the AMD Athlon XP processor so that we could produce a single family of products that meets the needs of our OEM customers, benefits end users, and serves all system price bands. AMD plans to make AMD Athlon XP processors available for more system price points, including those occupied by the AMD Duron processor. We plan for the AMD Duron processor to be available in the market into 2003. More business and home consumers can now enjoy the benefits of the award-winning AMD Athlon XP processor. Consolidating on the AMD Athlon XP processor brand also provides a single performance scale which makes PCs easier to purchase for home and business users.

With this brand consolidation, AMD also can apply valuable engineering and design resources to other critical development areas, such as our 8th-generation processor family, codenamed "Hammer."

Opteron - Latin Is Cool And AMD Is Smart

Opteron is a very smart move on AMD's part. Although there are still many questions that remain to be answered about the product. We'll look at some of the plus points and negatives, and also bring you pictures of the first demonstration Opteron system from AMD, something that was being paraded in a back room at WinHEC 2002 last week.

So, say it again, Opteron. Opteron from the Latin optimus meaning best. But, we won't bore you with the marketing pitch, or push you to imagine the pictures the word Opteron is supposed to conjure up. Obviously, optimal comes to mind. Like it or lump it, people in marketing get paid good money to come up with this stuff, and while it takes some getting used to initially, it does eventually sit well. That's enough fretting about the name.

The name isn't the thing. Opteron isn't as much about the branding as it is about positioning AMD to do what it has not been able to do with great success in the past - get those Tier One OEMs, and corporate buyers to jump on the bandwagon. Despite having definite benefits and advantages, AMD's processors have remained firmly entrenched in the Systems Integrator channels, and among resellers, but have not found as much favor with the establishment of the PC industry.