SuSE has released a version of Linux that's tuned for the Opteron processor, set to launch Tuesday, with rival Red Hat planning its own product for the fall. Operating system support is a crucial factor for the success of Advanced Micro Devices' Opteron, whose 64-bit design can address vast amounts of memory more easily than Intel's rival 32-bit Xeon or Pentium processors can. Although Opteron can run older 32-bit software, programs must be rebuilt to take advantage of the 64-bit features. The next crucial hurdle will be for AMD to find major computer makers that are willing to use the chip, said Illuminata analyst Gordon Haff.
"It's going to be very important that there be some tier-one (manufacturer) support," he said. "At end of day, customers are a lot more interested in Opteron if IBM and Dell are selling systems, than if they can only buy them from a regional integrator or RackSaver or some other relatively small system player."
Most desktop computers don't yet exceed the 4GB memory limit of 32-bit chips--typically divided into 2GB for the operating system and 2GB for other software. But Opteron is designed for servers, more powerful machines that handle networked computing chores such as housing databases with many gigabytes of information.
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