APPLICATIONS

Broadcom Corporation and AMD announced a strategic relationship in which AMD will support Broadcom's development of server platform products that support the AMD Opteron processor architecture. By leveraging the two companies' proven expertise in high-performance system input-output (I/O), storage management and control, and microprocessor technologies, Broadcom and AMD will create enabling building blocks that allow the development of high-performance, compelling platform solutions for servers. This solution is planned to enable original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to bring to market highly differentiated products and allow end customers to deploy higher I/O bandwidth and greater reliability, availability and serviceability (RAS) solutions. Server chipset products are the chips that connect central processing units (CPUs) to memory and input-output (I/O) functions for enterprise computing, networking and storage solutions. The relationship between Broadcom and AMD is planned to provide a 64-bit x86 platform to the server market that achieves optimum performance/price metrics. "This relationship gives AMD a highly credible server I/O partner and further enables our shared customers to reap the benefits of the AMD Opteron processor with Direct Connect architecture," said Ben Williams, Vice President of Enterprise and Server/Workstation Business at AMD. "Broadcom's experience in leading-edge chipset technology should strengthen our offerings for the enterprise IT environment and is a natural fit for the industry's highest- performing x86-based server platform - the AMD Opteron processor." "Broadcom and our ServerWorks subsidiary have a long and proven record of providing leading technology to the server market," said Gary Thomas, Vice President and General Manager of Broadcom's ServerWorks subsidiary. "By marshaling all of the expertise of Broadcom's Enterprise Computing Group - including chipsets, advanced networking, server architectural IP, and storage management and control - to work with the high performance AMD Opteron processor, we will enable the industry to experience the highest performance platforms yet." Major server OEMs such as Sun Microsystems, Inc. view the Broadcom-AMD partnership as a positive means for them to create even more compelling and competitive solutions for their customers. "The Broadcom-AMD partnership is a critical aspect of the AMD Opteron processor ecosystem that Sun is helping to develop," said John Fowler, Executive Vice President, Network Systems at Sun Microsystems, Inc. "We are pleased to see Broadcom join AMD as one of Sun's long-term partners in the server space." Broadcom's initial server I/O chipset samples for use with the AMD Opteron processor platform are expected to be available in the fall of 2004.