SUNNYVALE, CA -- AMD (NYSE:AMD) today announced that the Tokyo Institute of Technology's PRESTO III--a server cluster containing 78 AMD Athlon(TM) processors--was ranked in the Top 500 list released at the June 2001 International Supercomputer Conference held in Heidelberg, Germany. The PRESTO III marks the first time an AMD processor-based supercomputer has made the internationally renowned list. The PRESTO III is employed at the Matsuoka Laboratory of the Global Scientific Information and Computing Center and the Department of Mathematical and Computing Science. It runs simulation and scientific applications such as operations research, high-energy physics, and neuroscience. "Upon launching the project, we evaluated many solutions and concluded that the AMD Athlon processor was the best choice in terms of performance and stability. We are delighted that our PRESTO III cluster has become the first AMD Athlon processor-based computer to make the Top 500 list," said Dr. Satoshi Matsuoka, who led the PRESTO III supercomputer initiative. "We are grateful to our research sponsor, the Japan Science and Technology Corporation, for support throughout the PRESTO program, and to AMD for providing the processor technology. Our hope is to move up on the Top 500 list for the second half of 2001." "The AMD Athlon processor is an excellent choice for cutting-edge computer platforms targeted at computation-intensive applications," said Shunsuke Yoshizawa, AMD director of corporate/channel marketing, North Asia Pacific. "This innovative processor is a powerful and reliable solution, well suited to supporting advanced scientific facilities and critical research projects." Compiled by high-performance computer experts, computational scientists, manufacturers and the Internet community, the Top 500 (http://www.top500.org) list provides current information about the most powerful computer systems in the world. The international list has been released twice a year since 1993. The Tokyo Institute of Technology's PRESTO III was ranked No. 439. Other AMD Athlon processor-based supercomputers are installed at research institutions such as the University of Delaware, University of Kentucky, University of Utah, University of California at Santa Cruz, Western Michigan University, Calvin College, and the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology. These Linux-based supercomputers use the Beowulf Cluster design architecture, which involves connecting each processor in parallel to maximize speed and processing power while providing inter-communications between the processors and compute nodes. For further information visit http://www.amd.com/news/news.html