http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/03/01/22/030122hnamdcollab.xml?s=IDGNSLinuxWorld: AMD's Ruiz calls for collaboration
By Tom Krazit
January 22, 2003 9:57 am PT
NEW YORK -- Technology companies need to work well with each other for future innovations to occur, Advanced Micro Devices resident and Chief Executive Officer Hector Ruiz said during his keynote address Wednesday morning here at LinuxWorld.
Taking his own advice to heart, Ruiz announced IBM will ship a 64-bit beta version of its DB2 database software optimized for AMD's Opteron processor.
"Collaboration and shared effort are part of creative thinking, and creative applications result when Linux and AMD processors play well together," he said.
The beta version of DB2 will run on SuSE Linux AG's version of Linux, and it will ensure the software is ready for the launch of the Opteron in April, Ruiz said.
AMD paraded in front of the audience several partners and Linux advocates who testified to the viability of Linux and AMD processors in an enterprise environment. Speakers included Richard Siebt, chairman and CEO of SuSE Linux and Wayne Kugel, director of professional services at Cray. A taped presentation from Boeing discussed the use of AMD Athlon XP processors in a Linux cluster for computer modeling applications.
Ruiz couldn't resist a dig at rival Intel's Itanium server processor, asking the crowd, "Is this an example of technology that is truly innovative?"
Itanium is a 64-bit processor that requires users to port their applications to a new, proprietary instruction set different from the x86 instruction set used in most Intel processors and all AMD processors. The Opteron still requires a port in order to take full advantage of the 64-bit capability, but IT staffs won't need to learn an entirely new instruction set.
"We've designed processors that work for you, not processors that make you work," Ruiz said.
LinuxWorld continues through Friday at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York.
