Advanced Micro Devices Inc. is focused. Focused on the future. And that future is a 64-bit world in which everything from portable PCs to servers to networking gear is powered by AMD Opteron or Athlon processors. To do it, the Sunnyvale, Calif., semiconductor manufacturer has been steadfastly signing up OEMs to build Opteron servers—the latest toll for which is more than 50 worldwide. With its major release of the 64-bit client processor, the Athlon 64, set for next week, there seems to be no slowing down AMD or CEO Hector de Ruiz, who"s been on a tear across the country getting the word out about the chip"s high performance, 32-bit backward compatibility and low cost. eWEEK Executive Editor/News, Michael R. Zimmerman, caught up with de Ruiz in New York earlier this week at TechXNY to talk about life since April and the launch of the Opteron and the future.
eWEEK: Has the Opteron message—the 64-bit computing with 32-bit backward compatibility—been embraced by users as well as you could have expected?