It’s already August and I’ve been giving some thought to a last quick summer get-away.  Been to Las Vegas recently?  It’s an astoundingly popular destination – more than 37 million visitors last year!  And most of them began and ended their trip with the ubiquitous ringing sound of the slot machines. (On second thought, I may be looking for something a bit more low-key.)

But let me share a secret – many of those gaming machines folks pass on the way to baggage claim, the buffet or the blackjack table feature an AMD processor.  Slot machines are one category of many so-called embedded systems that require massive compute power, extreme reliability and absolutely must be efficient to design, manufacture, and operate.

As Vegas has gone electronic, along with our cars, calendars and airport check-in, the number of CPU encounters the average person has in a day is astounding and growing.  And many of those processors behind the curtain are of the same power-sipping AMD variety as the processors found in servers in your office or the laptop at home. 

AMD has played a significant role in the embedded world since its inception and with input from our customers.  We’ve developed a roadmap of high-performance processor, GPU or chipset options that can power everything from a six nines reliability telecom server to a notebook rugged enough to use on an oilfield platform, to a control switch on an assembly line.

Today, we have announced two new dual-core options for our ASB1 BGA platform.   They deliver superior performance to an embedded platform that is already being deployed in thin clients, digital signage and you guessed it – gaming machines. 

In my 20+ years working in various embedded markets, I’ve learned that a valuable dialog is one to one with system designers.  So I look forward to sharing more on this blog about AMD’s role in the embedded realm and especially hearing from the embedded design community on how we can help you achieve a vision for the next ubiquitous, game-changing product.  Hit me in the comments.

Buddy Broeker is AMD’s Director of Embedded Computing Solutions.  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 linked sites and no endorsement is implied.