The AMD Opteron processor launched in April 2003 to the anticipation of both the high performance computing (HPC) and enterprise IT communities and is the only server/workstation processor to feature AMD64 technology with Direct Connect Architecture.

"The HPC community recognizes that the superior design of the AMD Opteron processor delivers tremendous performance gains on some of the world's most complex and demanding applications", stated Marty Seyer, vice president and general manager for AMD's Microprocessor Business Unit. "AMD Opteron processor-based systems occupy the leading position in a number of industry-standard enterprise benchmarks including TPC-C (4P servers), SAP (4P servers), and MMB2 (2P servers). AMD64 technology is on its way to becoming the preferred choice for enterprise and high performance computing."

"X86-compatible systems are the system of choice in the technical cluster market. IDC estimates that over 90% of installed technical clusters are x86 compatible including both x86 and x86-64 systems", stated Earl Joseph, Research Vice President, High Performance Systems at IDC. "The overall technical server market showed strong revenue growth of over 12% in 2003, while technical clustered sales more than doubled from 2002 to 2003. IDC end-user research shows continuing requirements for improved price/performance; faster system performance; large memories; and software compatibility. The growing appearance of installed AMD Opteron processor-based systems on broad industry lists like the Top500 and IDC Balanced HPC Ratings is indicative of these trends."

"With the introduction of our Cray XD1 and Red Storm-based products later this year, both of which fully exploit AMD Opteron processors and HyperTransport technology, we expect to expand our leadership on the new multi-test HPC Challenge benchmark as well as the TOP500 list", stated Peter Ungaro, vice president of worldwide sales and marketing at Cray. "In conjunction with Direct Connect Architecture, Cray continues to gain substantial momentum in bringing HPC to a wider market."

The number 10 supercomputer, built by Dawning and in service at Shanghai Supercomputer Center, comes in as the highest AMD Opteron processor-based system on the TOP500, operating at a maximal Linpack performance rate of 8,061 Gflop/s with a theoretical peak performance of 11,264 Gflop/s. Also appearing in the top 20 are a Los Alamos National Laboratory installation in the United States built by Linux Networx at number 11 and a system at the Grid Technology Research Center in Japan, built by IBM, at number 19.

"The architectural design of the AMD Opteron processor makes it a popular choice in a scientific computing environment, especially as the trend toward clustering grows", stated Jack Dongarra, Distinguished Professor at the University of Tennessee and author of the Linpack benchmark. "AMD Opteron processors feature fast data throughput for computationally intensive applications."

Additional AMD Opteron processor-based supercomputers featured on the TOP500 list include:

• Universitaet Wuppertal in Germany built by Angstrom Microsystems (rank 74)
• IBM/US Army Research Laboratory installations in New York built by IBM (ranks 109-112)
• Veritas DGC in Houston built by Verari Systems, formerly RackSaver (rank 136)
• Brigham Young University in Utah built by IBM (rank 140)
• Umea University in Sweden built by HP (rank 165)
• Doshisha University, Intelligent Systems Design Laboratory in Japan built by Visual Technology (rank 188)
• Los Alamos National Laboratory in the U.S. built by Linux Networx (rank 218)
• University of Utah built by Angstrom Microsystems (rank 228)
• AMD Developer Center in California built by Appro International (rank 277)
• University of Southampton in the United Kingdom built by IBM (rank 287)
• Volkswagen AG in Germany built by NEC (rank 289)
• University of Nebraska built by Atipa Technology (rank 291)
• Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in the U.K. built by Streamline Computing (rank 315)
• National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado built by IBM (rank 341)
• HWW/Universitaet Stuttgart in Germany built by Cray Inc. (rank 411)
• AMD Developer Center in California built by Verari Systems (rank 430)
• Naval Research Laboratory in Washington D.C. built by Appro International (rank 436)
• University of Siegen in Germany built by IBM (rank 464)
• ISA Technologies in Australia built by IBM (rank 465)

A U.S.-based financial services company, an Italian-based automotive manufacturer and four government entities within the U.S. also use AMD Opteron-based supercomputers built by IBM. Those systems rank from number 458 to number 463. More than half of the AMD Opteron processor-based systems on the current list are manufactured by IBM. Many research institutions and universities have embraced the stability and reliability of the AMD Athlon MP processor line, which offers leading in-class performance and also appears throughout the TOP500 list.

At the International Supercomputer Conference 2004 event in Heidelberg, Germany, AMD Chief Technical Officer Fred Weber will deliver a keynote address with William J. Camp of Sandia National Laboratory about the history of Sandia National Laboratory and Cray Inc.'s "Red Storm" project and the opportunities that the massive supercomputer presented to AMD.

The world's first 32-bit and 64-bit processor compatible with the x86 architecture, the AMD Opteron processor is based on AMD64 technology with Direct Connect Architecture. Direct Connect Architecture helps eliminate the bottlenecks inherent in a front-side bus by directly connecting the processors, the memory controller and the I/O to the central processor unit to enable improved overall system performance and efficiency. AMD also was the first to announce the completion of an x86-based dual-core processor design for 64-bit computing. As more solution providers join the AMD64 ecosystem, the industry is approaching the day when 32-bit-only systems will become obsolete.