May14

Want woofers and tweeters with that?

AMD has just had its annual IT Industry Analyst conference in Berkley, California. Lots of interesting conversations and great feedback.  The bottom line for me was that – after spending three days together - most analysts are confident (if I can use a nautical analogy) that we are back in control of the boat. Makes a change from people thinking the boat had control of us. They may want us to be clearer as to where we are taking the boat, but at least we have control!

 

A couple of the best conversations were around the ideas of differentiation and features. Moreover, how complex the PC market has become for most consumers. As technologists we get very excited about all the ‘bells and whistles’ but most people outside our industry have no idea what we are talking about.

 

For a prime example of what I mean, search the Web for a particular clip from an 80’s BBC TV show called “Not the Nine O’clock News.”  Trying searching using the word ‘Gramophone’. It shows a shop assistant mocking a customer about how little they know about buying a new stereo. I wonder if the modern shop assistant would be that smug about all the features of our PCs today?

 

It must be nearly impossible for non-technical people to make a choice out of the tens or hundreds of machines they have on the shelf of their local mega-PC shop. I believe that, as an industry we need to make that easier for people.

 

I do have an example of how this sort of problem affected me. When I was buying my first washing machine I was faced by the challenge of not really knowing the difference between the various choices. I had never bought one before – always used the one provided or had my mum do it! I studied the machines for a while and just didn’t know what to choose. Was the cheapest good enough or would it be missing the key features? If I went for the top of the line model, would I be paying for things I would never use?

 

 A friendly shop assistant came up to me and asked if he could help. I said he could and asked what the difference between the two machines in front of me was. He studied them for a few seconds and then he read the details on the cards in front of each of them. “About $100 sir,” he said.

 

Nigel Dessau is senior vice president and chief marketing officer at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD's positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such links sites and no endorsement is implied.

 

Published: May-14-08 | 0 Comments | 0 Links to this post

Apr28

Three times a charm?

There has been lots of discussion around our recently launched triple-core AMD Phenom™ X3 processor lineup, and a number of online resellers already offer the processors. Consumer systems from Hewlett-Packard and Gateway that use the AMD Phenom™ X3 processor are on the market today. These desktops are available at Best Buy for as little as US$550.

Seems the interesting debate is this: when is three better than two or four? And by better, I do of course mean more useful.

For entertainment, we are focused on helping consumers enjoy a better experience with high definition video and gaming. Today’s popular applications for manipulating video (like Ahead Software’s Nero and Windows Media Encoder) can perform over 30% faster with AMD’s triple cores when resizing video for playback on a portable video player or compressing a high definition video for playback on a DVD.  That’s compared to our AMD Athlon™ X2 dual cores.

AMD Phenom X4 processors deliver over 20% additional performance on these same applications, by the way.  These are common tasks with common formats like H.264 and MPEG 2 that anyone who has a lot of high quality video would benefit from. If you combine those benefits with our 780G chipsets with integrated ATI Radeon™ HD 3200 graphics with ATI Hybrid CrossFireX™ technology under the Windows Vista OS  – you get perfect platform for accelerated HD video playback and 3D performance. Our 780G-based  triple core platforms can score an unprecedented 1500 on 3D Mark 06, outperforming competing platforms by more than 250%.

For the more ‘prosumer’ types, we are focused on delivering performance for demanding video and multi-media applications, which tend to be multi-threaded and multi-core ready. Industry standard 3D rendering applications like PovRay and video rendering plug-ins like MainConcept encoder both deliver over 30% more performance with our triple core.  And a further 20% performance increase is realized by moving to AMD Phenom X4. Combined with our ATI Radeon™ HD and Fire™ graphics adapters, professionals and prosumers can create original video extremely fast in native high definition formats.

For Gaming, AMD Phenom X3 processors are winning a lot of shootouts with today’s multi-threaded games. The Microsoft Xbox video game system is a triple core platform and a lot of development is shared between PCs and today’s top consoles. So naturally, I think we are going to see the most demanding games embracing multi-core processors and state-of-the-art graphics technology.

With Phenom X3 we are seeing EA’s Crysis with scores over 25% higher, Unreal Tournament 3 over 30%, and Quake 4 over 70% than our dual core designs. And the vast majority of uplift in these games is between dual and triple core vs. triple to quad core.

Noticing a trend? AMD Phenom X3 bridges the gap between dual core and quad core technologies, takes advantage of PC/console joint game development, and breaks through the barrier of high definition entertainment by speeding the manipulation of high definition content. 

In my opinion, today’s consumers are going to have performance to spare for everyday productivity applications - adding a lot of redundant performance for these applications doesn’t improve the utility of contemporary PCs.  AMD Phenom X3 does not provide the best performance for single threaded productivity applications – but I don’t think this is where our customers are feeling pain. AMD Phenom X3 is all about performance for demanding uses and is ready for a highly visual, high definition future.

 

Nigel Dessau is senior vice president and chief marketing officer at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD's positions, strategies or opinions.

Published: Apr-28-08 | 5 Comments | 0 Links to this post

Apr23

In the fours

The four-processor or “4P” server market is generally considered the server infrastructure of choice for both virtualization and mission critical applications.
 
It’s interesting that about 6 in 10 4P systems sold in the US are AMD based (in the rest of the world it is nearer to 5 out of 10). (see note 1)
 
We are also starting to see interest from customers going beyond 4P and moving to 8P when seeking extreme efficiency and enhanced support for large virtualization and IT consolidation endeavors. Take a look at Sun Microsystems and HP's 8P offerings. Both OEMs recognize the inherent value that AMD's Direct Connect Architecture can deliver for multi-processor systems.
 
With our key partners now shipping  Quad-Core AMD Opteron™ processors, I asked my team to tell me a couple of things that were different about those processors. While I know some of the world is obsessed with their Ghz (déjà vu all over again) here are a couple of interesting observations:
 
• Red Hat recently conducted performance testing of Oracle 10G OLTP on Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor-based HP platforms in a fully virtualized environment. The testing showed that a fully virtualized guest with advanced features such as Red Hat’s para virtual driver and AMD Rapid Virtualization Indexing turned on can yield up to an estimated 249% performance improvement over a fully virtualized environment that does not have those features turned on. (see note 2)
 
•  There are many examples of the low power advantages that the Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor-based platform has over the competition.  If you look where a majority of servers operate, less than 20% utilization, the AMD based platform can offer up to a 20% reduction in operational cost as it pertains to electricity to both operate and cool the platform. (see note 3)
 
Not the whole story, yes, but it’s not a bad story either!
 
(1) Data from IDC’s Q4-2007 Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker
 
(2) Based on an internal study. For more information on  VMmark visit http://www.vmware.com/products/vmmark/
 
(3) Energy estimates for 42 servers (full rack) & include power input & cooling at 60%, Power Utility cost: $0.10/KW-hr, based on 24/7 365 days a year operation at specified load examples.   The examples contained herein are intended for
informational purposes only, actual results will vary. Other factors will affect  real-world power consumption and cost. Assumptions based on actual measured systems SPEC and the benchmark name SPECint and SPECfp are registered trademarks of the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation. The comparison estimates presented above
are based on the SPECfp workload for Quad-Core AMD Opteron™ processor Model 2350 & Quad-Core Intel Xeon Model E5430
 

Nigel Dessau is senior vice president and chief marketing officer at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD's positions, strategies or opinions.

Published: Apr-23-08 | 2 Comments | 0 Links to this post

Apr15

It’s a small world after all...

I was looking for a way to start my new AMD blog and had been discussing ideas with my new team. Maybe I could start with the ‘10 things I have learned since I joined AMD’ or even better, ‘the top things no-one knows about AMD that they should.’ The second one may need some work on the title – but you get the idea. 

 

Instead I thought I would deal with something that affects us all – our communities and how they are changed by computing. I think of this because of one of the things I have learned about in my first month at AMD – the 50x15 Initiative.

 

The initiative, launched by AMD in 2004 at the World Economic Forum, aims at providing accessible Internet access and computing solutions for 50 percent of the world's population by the year 2015. This initiative is maybe one of the most pragmatic approaches to using Internet technology to connect and benefit the world I’ve yet seen.

 

While lots of people are talking about how Internet technology can connect the un-connected, or bridge the digital divide, it’s great to actually be doing something real and practical. The benefits of affordable Internet access are not about giving everyone a free Wi-Fi connection, but about how the global sharing of information can make life better for people who may never have a Wi-Fi connection or a PC to run it on.

 

As side note, I should point out that Sun, my previous home, was also pretty committed to this and Scott McNealy’s support for Curriki is a great example of something that can also impact areas like education.

 

Two of the projects I most liked from 50x15 are:

 

1.    e-Poupatempo

 

Poupatempo means “Save Time” in São Paulo, Brazil. Poupatempo centers are places where people can go and take care of many needs at once. E-Poupatempo is a virtual version of the state run Poupatempo project, providing e-services to São Paulo's citizens.

 

To make these services available to a greater number of people, the state government of São Paulo constructed a computer center where people could go to access the same services and information. Last October, through AMD's 50x15 Initiative, AMD, Telefonica and the State Government of São Paolo deployed thin clients to improve communications in the borough of Santo Amaro. The thin clients are connected to an AMD Athlon™ processor-based HP desktop computer that acts as a server to provide the thin clients with printing capabilities.

 

The response to the AMD powered e-Poupatempo center has been very positive, and with the trained staff available to assist users, even first-time computer users are able to take advantage of the efficiency enabled by e-services.

 

For more, check out: http://www.50x15.com/en-us/epoupatempo.aspx

 

2.    Under African skies

 

On August 4, 2006, thousands celebrated as secondary students in three schools in and around Kampala, Uganda were provided with a new link to the future, courtesy of a the 50x15 initiative.

 

Led by African Heads of State and the African Union, NEPAD’s e-Schools Programme is aimed at equipping all African schools with ICT tools to ensure African youth graduate with the skills necessary to fully participate in the information society and knowledge economy. The AMD NEPAD consortium includes Agile Learning, Asbis, Cisco, Computainer, I Direct, InterSat Africa, Inveneo, Learnthings, Microsoft, Multichoice Africa, and NewSkies Satellites.

 

In addition to the consortium, these particular deployments also include involvement by Linux Solutions and BushNet, both Ugandan IT and connectivity companies.

 

For more, check out: http://www.50x15.com/en-us/sol_results_uganda.aspx

 

And there are plenty more stories at the 50x15 Web site.

 

In the end we are all working for companies that are trying to out-innovate the competition and create more revenue and growth and profits, etc.  And others who do a fine job of being "politically and socially responsible."  But there are precious few companies that have really put their time and money into marrying the two.

 

I think AMD is onto the right balance... trying to grow the business while making the Internet and its benefits both real and affordable to the rest of the world.  That’s a mission in which I am looking forward to being more involved.

 

Next time something more techie - I promise!

 

Nigel Dessau is senior vice president and chief marketing officer at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD's positions, strategies or opinions.

Published: Apr-15-08 | 13 Comments | 5 Links to this post