Sun already sells two-processor and four-processor Opteron servers, the V20z and V40z. What's different with the Galaxy line is that it is built on the company's first in-house designs. Fowler said the company has more ambitious plans for the Kealia technology that underpins the servers: It's going to build designs that Fowler's predecessor cancelled but that Fowler has resurrected.
"The original leadership thought they were too radical. I thought they were not radical enough," Fowler said. "You'll see those in 2005."
Opteron is better than Xeon for server designers, Fowler said. The processor has better performance, and its on-board memory controller and HyperTransport communication links lower costs by eliminating otherwise necessary support chips. Consequently, Sun no longer sells the Xeon-based V60 and V65 servers it introduced in 2003, he said.
Opterons come with 64-bit extensions that permit easy access to more than 4GB of memory. At the moment, only Xeons for dual-processor servers have that feature, though models targeted at four-processor machines will arrive within the next three months, Intel said.
Upgrading also isn't difficult. The dual-core Opterons fit in existing systems and won't consume more power than current Opterons, which is 95W, Richard said.
If AMD launches its dual-core Opterons on schedule later this year, it will be a step ahead of Intel, which doesn't plan to release dual-core Xeons until early 2006. That advantage provides a good rationale for server makers to accept AMD and introduce Opteron products without irking Intel too much, Richard said.
Sun and HP already sell Opteron servers. IBM was the first to do so, but its designs are marketed for high-performance technical computing rather than for general-purpose server tasks.
"We cannot forget that IBM was the first on the stage with us. Now they've clearly taken more of a follower position," Richard said. "I would stay tuned for the future. It's possible IBM will surprise the world with a very innovative product."
IBM declined to comment on plans for future products. However, the company is "consistently evaluating customer demands," spokesman Tim Willeford said.
Dell is the only one of the four major server makers without an Opteron system to sell. However, Dell executives have been speaking more fondly of AMD in recent months, indicating that a change may be in the works.
One sticking point is whether AMD can keep its edge over Intel in the areas where it leads, Dell spokesman Bruce Anderson said. "There are certainly some new things AMD is doing that are very interesting to us," Anderson said. "We have many of those technologies in our labs. The question is more over their ability to sustain that for the long haul."
Richard said that long-term focus is now a permanent fixture at AMD.
"Some of the past history makes people nervous about depending on AMD," he said. "Now our intent is to be predictable and reliable, rather than the guy who always has the fastest part out there."
