Business buyers want Intel. Say... forget AMD's Athlon!
Date: 12/04 00:59 EST
AMD's Athlon Chips Win Praise, Not Business Buyers -- Business Desktops
Remain Intel's Province Until Rival Improves Delivery
Dec. 03, 1999 (InformationWeek - CMP via COMTEX) -- Advanced Micro
Devices Inc.'s new Athlon processors-including a 750-MHz chip
introduced last week-are winning praise from some quarters, but it
still could be a long time before business PC buyers get access to the
chips.
Most major PC makers say they won't offer Athlon CPUs on enterprise
desktops. "Our immediate plans are to continue having Intel as our sole
processor supplier for business systems," says a Dell spokesman,
echoing comments from Compaq, Gateway, Hewlett-Packard, and IBM.
Some consider the shutout surprising. Intel's fastest Pentium III
clocks in at 733 MHz and supports a maximum 133-MHz front-side bus- the
primary pathway between the CPU and memory. The 750-MHz Athlon supports
a 200-MHz front-side bus. "It's very impressive," says Technology
Business Research analyst Kelly Spang. AMD sells its 750-MHz chip to PC
makers for about $800; Intel's 733-MHz CPU is priced at about $825.
However, Merrill Lynch analyst Joe Osha says AMD has to prove it can
offer more than good technology, and notes that AMD has had difficulty
meeting delivery commitments in the past. But Intel is having
manufacturing problems, too: It failed to deliver its 820 chipset for
high-end desktops and workstations on time to vendors. Also, a bug that
forces some users to boot systems twice turned up last week in its
Coppermine CPUs. Coppermine CPUs include 600- and 733-MHz Pentium III
chips.
AMD hasn't given up on the business market. "We will leverage the
Athlon technology to deliver products geared for not only enterprise
desktops, but for workstations and servers," says Michael Steele, AMD's
enterprise marketing manager. Steele says AMD is getting its foot into
the market via generic white-box PCs. In March, it will open a plant in
Dresden, Germany, to increase its manufacturing capacity. Says Steele,
"We have to prove to this marketplace that we're here for the long
term."
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By: Paul McDougall
Copyright 1999 CMP Media Inc. |
