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AMD today announced three new models in the Dual-Core AMD Opteron processor family that lead the industry in x86 performance and performance-per-watt capabilities. The new Dual-Core AMD Opteron processors help minimize overall server power consumption and cooling requirements. The Dual-Core AMD Opteron processor Model 885 for up to eight-way/16-core enterprise-class servers and Model 285 for high performance two-way/four-core workstations and servers are immediately available. The Model 185 for one-way/two-core servers and workstations is expected to be available within 30 days. All three models deliver the highest performance available for x86 servers and power consumption remains within AMD's standard thermal envelope. "AMD integrates two AMD Opteron processor cores onto a single die, allowing them to communicate at full processor speed," said Randy Allen, corporate vice president, Server and Workstation Division, AMD. "That means Dual-Core AMD Opteron processors are the only native dual-core x86 systems available today for customers who want efficient solutions for their datacenters. Datacenter managers can fill racks with dual-core platforms without worrying about increased electricity and cooling costs." Performance-per-watt leadership In addition to offering native dual-core technology, the AMD Opteron processor helps deliver a significant savings for enterprise datacenters. Dual-Core AMD Opteron processors offer significant performance gains while operating in the same power and thermal infrastructure as single-core AMD Opteron processors. This means fewer servers can do the job of many, to lower overall operating costs. AMD PowerNow! technology with Optimized Power Management can increase those savings even further because it enables servers and workstations to dynamically power down processors, based on usage. AMD PowerNow! technology can reduce CPU power consumption by up to 75 percent during idle time, to help decrease the strain on datacenter cooling and ventilation systems and helping minimize overall power consumption for enterprise IT and workstation customers. Widespread Hardware Partner Support Today, the industry's leading original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) announced support for the latest Dual-Core AMD Opteron processors. IBM, one of the first vendors to ship Dual-Core AMD Opteron processor-based platforms, will support the new processors in its servers and workstation product lines, with the BladeCenter LS20, e326m server, and IntelliStation A Pro. The LS20 blade and e326m rack server will utilize the Dual-Core AMD Opteron processor Model 285 to provide improved performance-per-watt advantages for customers looking to scale-out their high-performance computing clusters or BladeCenter deployments. Additionally, the updated IntelliStation A Pro offers an even more robust 32- and 64-bit computing platform for high-quality visualization in the fields of engineering and digital content, digital rendering and chemical and petroleum research. "We are pleased to take advantage of today's newly launched AMD64 dual-core technology in IBM systems, from blades to workstations," said Leo Suarez, vice president and business line executive, IBM xSeries. "We are confident that our e326m server and IntelliStation A Pro customers will appreciate the increased performance needed to run in compute-intensive environments, and we know many of our BladeCenter customers appreciate better performance per watt, as they have seen in the LS20 blade. Customer needs and demands are a central part to how both IBM and AMD design our products, which we believe is why these systems have enjoyed so much acceptance in the marketplace." Sun Microsystems revamped and expanded its entire x64 AMD Opteron processor-based server, workstation and High Performance Computing (HPC) product lines with AMD's latest dual-core processors. Today's announcement will mark Sun's continued support of the AMD Opteron processor in its Sun Fire x64 servers and workstations, including the "Galaxy" Sun Fire X4100 and X4200 servers, and its recently announced Sun Ultra 40 Workstation. "Energy efficiency is a top priority for our customers. Our work designing systems with the AMD Opteron processor has supported Sun's commitment to delivering customers the performance they demand with low power consumption," said John Fowler, executive vice president, Network Systems Group, Sun Microsystems. "We're excited to deliver our customers even greater choice as they move their multi-core strategies ahead." HP will add the new Dual-Core AMD Opteron processors across its extensive portfolio of AMD Opteron processor-based HP ProLiant servers and workstations. Dual-Core AMD Opteron processor Model 885 will add to the record-breaking performance of the four-processor/eight-core HP ProLiant DL 585 and BL45p, while Dual-Core AMD Opteron processor Model 285 will do the same for the record-holding two-processor/four-core HP ProLiant DL385 and DL145 G2, plus the HP ProLiant BL25p and BL35p server blades. HP will also match Dual-Core AMD Opteron processor Model 285 with the performance-class HP xw9300 Workstation that features multi-processing capabilities and support for dual PCI-Express x16 graphics. Dual-Core AMD Opteron processors bring the power of four cores to HP's xw9300 Workstation for scientists, engineers, designers and digital artists who demand extreme graphical and visualization performance. "AMD and HP have worked together to deliver innovative technologies to meet the challenges customers are facing today in the data center through the most comprehensive portfolio of AMD Opteron processor-based servers in the industry," said Paul Miller, vice president, marketing, Industry Standard Servers and BladeSystem, HP. "Today's announcement will enable larger scale deployment of databases and virtualization solutions as well as continued focus on reducing power consumption." Pricing and Availability The Dual-Core AMD Opteron processor Model 885 is priced at $2,149 in 1,000-unit quantities and the Model 285 is priced at $1,051 in 1,000-unit quantities. The Dual-Core AMD Opteron processor Model 185, is scheduled to be available within 30 days. For additional pricing information, please see its Web site. For more information on AMD Opteron processor model numbers, please see its Web site.