Two more companies today signed up to the AMD standards camp, with Zeus, the Internet server OS, tipping up to write 64-bit extensions for Opteron, and VIA enlisting for the HyperTransport protocol brigade.
OK, so Zeus is a bit niche (granted it"s a successful player in a bloody big segment), but it is all grist to AMD"s 64-bit mill. The more supporters the more credible AMD will be as a server system supplier, as opposed to a chip designer.
VIA has already gone on the record in its support for AMD Opteron. Now it"s gone a step further in becoming a member of the HyperTransport Technology Consortium.
Granted HyperTransport isn"t restricted to x86-64 (and isn"t it 39-bit anyway?), but this I/O bottleneck breaking is a key component of AMD"s server CPU design.