AMD Promotes Bob Rivet to Chief Operations and Administrative Officer, Emilio Ghilardi to become Chief Sales Officer

AMD Promotes Bob Rivet to Chief Operations and Administrative Officer, Emilio Ghilardi to become Chief Sales Officer
AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced the expansion of key executive roles. Bob Rivet, former executive vice president and chief financial officer, was named chief operations and administrative officer. Emilio Ghilardi, senior vice president and general manager of sales for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), will assume the role of chief sales officer at the beginning of 2009.

AMD Confirms Fourth Quarter Revenue Guidance
New York — December 13, 2007 –At its 2007 Financial Analyst Day presentation, AMD (NYSE: AMD) Chief Financial Officer Robert J. Rivet confirmed the company still expects revenue for the current quarter to increase in line with seasonality.

Quad-Core AMD Opteron Processors Prove to be Optimal Choice for Virtualization
AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced that Quad-Core AMD Opteron™ processors now power 37 platforms from global OEMs, nine of which are designed with virtualization in mind. With Dell’s latest M905 PowerEdge blade server introduced today, AMD and Dell can claim the only 16-core x86 server to support 11 tiles or 66 Virtual Machines (VM) in VMmark performance testing¹. The new server is now available along with the Dell PowerEdge M805 blade. Both servers are uniquely designed to leverage AMD-Virtualization™ (AMD-V™) technology for enhanced virtualization performance to help businesses maximize valuable datacenter real estate.

AMD Loses Market Share as Mobile CPU Sales Outsell Desktop for the First Time

Last week we looked at the financial results for AMD which reported a fairly positive financial outlook. Even though the company was still losing money, they had managed to bring loses under control and investors were most likely hoping Q4 2008, or Q1 2009 would see the chip maker return to profit. These hopes are slowing being dashed by new market share numbers which according to Mercury Research saw AMD’s total share drop to 17.7 percent. This is a drop from 18.8 percent in the second quarter, and a huge plunge from 25.3 percent they enjoyed in the fourth quarter of 2006.

According to Mercury a large contributor to AMD’s drop is the shift from desktop processors to mobile. For the first time, shipments of mobile parts have exceeded their desktop counterparts in the CPU market. A market where Intel is extremely dominate. AMD drastically needs to improve innovation in the laptop arena if it is to slow Intel who is posting record breaking revenues. The processor market on a whole grew 13.3 percent and according to researchers, seems to be somewhat immune to the chaos in the financial markets. AMD managed to bring about a modest increase in the server and notebook markets but this is more the result of the market growth rather than share gains. AMD’s stock price has dropped to $3.03 in afterhours trading, down from its 52 week high of $13.80.

Do you think AMD can bounce back? Hit the jump and let us know.

AMD and American India Foundation Collaborate to Connect Children to the Internet

AMD and American India Foundation Collaborate to Connect Children to the Internet
AMD (NYSE: AMD) and the American India Foundation (AIF), today announced the launch of a new 50×15 Learning Lab at the Government High School, Doddanakundi in Bangalore. The new Learning Lab is equipped with AMD Athlon™ Dual-Core processor-based Microsoft IQ PCs and will provide affordable Internet access to more than 200 school children.

AMD Continues its Technology Leadership Employing GDDR5 to Fuel Next Generation ATI Radeon Graphics Solutions
SUNNYVALE, Calif. — May 21, 2008 –AMD (NYSE:AMD) today announced the first commercial implementation of Graphics Double Data Rate, version 5 (GDDR5) memory in its forthcoming next generation of ATI Radeon™ graphics card products. The high-speed, high-bandwidth GDDR5 technology is expected to become the new memory standard in the industry, and that same performance and bandwidth is a key enabler of The Ultimate Visual Experience™, unlocking new GPU capabilities. AMD is working with a number of leading memory providers, including Samsung, Hynix and Qimonda, to bring GDDR5 to market.

ATI PowerXpress Now Delivering Increased Graphics Performance and Energy Efficiency to Notebook Consumers

ATI PowerXpress Now Delivering Increased Graphics Performance and Energy Efficiency to Notebook Consumers
AMD (NYSE:AMD) today announced that ATI PowerXpress™ users can double or triple the performance of the integrated graphics processor¹ when plugged into a wall socket or extend their battery life by over an hour while on the go². Previously announced earlier this year as a variant of ATI Hybrid Graphics Technology for notebook computers, ATI PowerXpress allows notebook users to manually or automatically switch between an ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 3400 series discrete graphics processor and an integrated AMD M780G with ATI Radeon™ HD 3200 graphics without rebooting their notebook. ATI PowerXpress features can also be accessible and user configurable via the Catalyst™ Control Center. The first notebooks to take advantage of ATI PowerXpress are available from Fujitsu-Siemens Computers.

AMD Collaborates With Microsoft® on Windows Server® 2008 to Deliver Industry Leading Solution to Customers
AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced it has worked closely with Microsoft throughout the Windows Server® 2008 development process, to deliver the ultimate server solution. Through their strong partnership, both companies have optimized their respective hardware and software technologies to work together to address the demands of today’s global digital economy and meet the computing requirements of businesses of all sizes.

Sun tussles with startup over noted systems designer

Sun hasn't had much good news to report lately, so it wasn't surprising that it went into spin mode Thursday after startup company Arista Networks announced that it had snared Andreas Bechtolsheim, Sun's chief scientist and a highly regarded systems designer, to be its chief development officer.

The announcement led to a flurry of reports that Bechtolsheim had resigned from Sun, something the systems and software company strongly denied. It blasted an e-mail to reporters Thursday morning, calling the reports inaccurate and saying that Bechtolsheim will "continue his present involvement" with Sun, albeit on a part-time basis.

That sparked a brief tug-of-war between the companies. Mark Foss, Arista's director of marketing, said in response to Sun's e-mail that "as far as we're concerned" Bechtolsheim is working full time for Arista. "There's a miscommunication between Sun and us," he said. "We're working with Sun at the moment to clarify the situation."

Bechtolsheim has now clarified it. In an interview Thursday he confirmed that he works full time at Arista, where he is also chairman and cofounder, but that he'll continue to advise Sun on a part-time basis. "That's the legal status," he said, adding that he'll work for Sun "no more than one day a week."

"Sun has a very busy product schedule ahead of itself," Bechtolsheim said. "The products for the next year, if not the next two years, are all laid out. There are sometimes questions that come up that they'd like to call me back on or ask me about, and I'm happy to help them out on that basis."

"This may change in the future," he added, "but for now I'm still going to help Sun out on a part-time basis."

Bechtolsheim said he was moving to the networking startup because there's little room left for innovation with industry-standard servers, which is what he worked on at Sun.

"I'm really driven by the opportunity to innovate, and quite frankly the server business is getting more mature," he said. "It's basically difficult to add value to industry-standard servers built around Intel and AMD CPU chips, whereas the networking space has a lot of opportunities remaining in terms of the ability to innovate."

Sun has had enough bad news this week already, which could explain attempts to play down the departure of Bechtolsheim, who is also one of its founders. On Monday, Sun warned it would report a big loss for the past quarter on declining revenue, which sent its already-flagging stock price lower. Then on Wednesday, Sun's largest shareholder said it would take a more active role in the company to help maximize shareholder value.

The shareholder, Southeastern Asset Management, hasn't said yet what it plans to do. Dan Olds, principal analyst at Gabriel Consulting Group, said possibilities include trying to sell off some hardware assets, making changes in senior management, or making Sun a private company, which would relieve pressure to meet quarterly earnings forecasts.

Olds said that, according to Sun employees he spoke with, Bechtolsheim had already been scaling back his day-to-day work at the company. "One person told me repeatedly that he's the best systems designer they'd ever seen in terms of packaging, but that he's been gradually disconnecting over the last several months."

Bechtolsheim invented Sun's first workstation product and has a reputation as a brilliant systems designer. He left Sun for the first time in 1995 to found a Gigabit Ethernet company that was later acquired by Cisco Systems. He returned to Sun four years ago to design its Galaxy line of industry-standard servers. His return was supposed to help make Sun a hardware leader again at a time when its pricey Unix servers were falling from favor.

Networking stayed close to Bechtolsheim's heart, however. He cofounded Arista Networks at about the same time he returned to Sun and held a seat on Arista's board. Along with his appointment as chairman and chief of product development Thursday, Arista also named Jayshree Ullall, a senior vice president with Cisco Systems, as its president and chief executive officer.

Arista, which shipped its first products earlier this year, aims to "solve the problem of interconnecting large data centers with high-speed Ethernet," Bechtolsheim said.

"One unfortunate thing here is that people are focused on me leaving Sun, but the exciting part is actually this cloud networking story we are building here," he said.

AMD Reports Fourth Quarter and Annual Results

AMD Reports Fourth Quarter and Annual Results
SUNNYVALE, Calif. — Jan. 17, 2008 — AMD (NYSE: AMD) today reported fourth quarter 2007 revenue of $1.770 billion, an 8 percent increase compared to the third quarter of 2007 and flat compared to the fourth quarter of 2006. In the fourth quarter of 2007, AMD reported a net loss of $1.772 billion, or $3.06 per share, and an operating loss of $1.678 billion. Fourth quarter net loss included charges of $1.675 billion, or $2.89 per share, of which $1.669 billion were operating charges. The non-cash portion of the fourth quarter charges was $1.606 billion. In the third quarter of 2007, AMD reported revenue of $1.632 billion, a net loss of $396 million, and an operating loss of $226 million. In the fourth quarter of 2006, AMD reported revenue of $1.773 billion, a net loss $576 million, and an operating loss of $529 million.

Blog from AMD VP of Advanced Marketing

Blog from AMD VP of Advanced Marketing
Patrick Moorhead, VP of Advanced Marketing, provides honest insight on the most technical aspects of consumer products available today and tells what he really thinks consumer products should offer in the future.

AMD to Broadcast Live Press Conference at Computex 2008 in Taipei, Taiwan
At Computex 2008 in Taipei, Taiwan from June 3-7, AMD plans to deliver multimedia representations of its Computex news and views via the web to interested media and industry influencers, including those unable to attend.

AMD Hires Industry Veteran Mike Uhler as Vice President of Accelerated Computing
SUNNYVALE, California. — December 10, 2007 –AMD (NYSE: AMD) announced respected industry veteran Mike Uhler, former CTO of MIPS, has joined the company as its first vice president of Accelerated Computing. Uhler has extensive experience developing advanced chip architectures and software for designs that combine multiple intellectual property (IP) blocks, as well as a deep understanding of customer requirements across a range of applications.

AMD Announces its Highest-performance Mobile Graphics Chip Ever for HD Visual Computing on the Go

AMD Announces its Highest-performance Mobile Graphics Chip Ever for HD Visual Computing on the Go
AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced the ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 3800, tripling top-of-the line graphics performance in comparison to the previous generation ATI Mobility Radeon™ GPUs¹. Joining the previously announced ATI Mobility Radeon™ 3000 family, the new ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3800 series offers notebook manufacturers the ability to deliver fast graphics performance, energy-efficient 55nm graphics processor technology, amazing video playback, and, for the first time ever, ATI CrossFireX™ technology for a mobile graphics solution. ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3800 series coupled with the AMD Turion™ X2 Ultra Processors, the AMD 7-Series Chipset, and industry-leading wireless technologies like 802.11n Draft 2.0 form the next-generation AMD notebook platform, also announced today, for the ultimate in HD visual performance on the go.

AMD Virtual Experience (AVE) Expanded Through Interactivity Enhancements and Technology Partner Participation
Sunnyvale, Calif. — October 2, 2007 — AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced wider adoption and significant enhancements for the AMD Virtual Experience (http://ave.amd.com). This content-rich virtual tradeshow provides visitors a unique visual experience with even broader access to supplier and vendor buying decision information, as well as the latest on controlling energy consumption in the data center.

AMD Announces AMD Core Math Library (ACML) 4.0 with Enhanced Optimizations for Third-Generation AMD Opteron Processors
Sunnyvale, Calif. — November 12, 2007 — AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced significant updates to its AMD Core Math Library (ACML) designed to provide software developers with highly optimized, multi-threaded math routines used by scientific, engineering, business and consumer applications that require maximum performance. Designed for developers and mathematical programmers seeking additional support for multi-threading and complex high performance computing projects, ACML offers support for all major x86 operating environments including Windows®, Linux®, and Solaris. ACML can be downloaded at no charge from AMD Developer Central, an on-line destination for developers seeking support for multi-threading software development projects or x86-based computing projects that demand highly-optimized code.

AMD Announces Continued Support for the Next-Generation Notebook Platform with New Toshiba Satellite Laptops

AMD Announces Continued Support for the Next-Generation Notebook Platform with New Toshiba Satellite Laptops
AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced growing OEM support for its next-generation notebook platform with the addition of Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., Digital Products Division’s consumer laptops built on the next-generation AMD notebook platform. Toshiba’s Satellite laptop PC series is offered with different models of the AMD Turion™ X2 Ultra Dual-Core Mobile Processors, AMD 7-Series Chipsets, and leading-edge wireless solutions based on the draft 802.11n specification.

InfoWorld Daily Podcast

InfoWorld Daily Podcast
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