Replies to post #46459 on Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD)

[KeithDust2000]

wbmw, Meanwhile, the prospects of IPF put it somewhere in the high end segment competing against RISC players like Power and SPARC. This market isn't going away, and it still represents ~50% of server revenue.

How much market share has IPF of this remaining 50% of server revenue today?

[mmoy]

Meanwhile, the prospects of IPF put it somewhere in the high end segment competing against RISC players like Power and SPARC. This market isn't going away,


You'd better keep an eye on at least part of this market.

"Ipods and TVs"

[I_banker]

@wbmw, This market isn't going away

This is where our viewpoints fundamentally differ. I think the RISC market is going away as x86-64 grows up. IMO, SUN is already planning for that eventuality. There may always be a top top end that requires proprietary chips, but over time (5-10 years), x86-64 will take over more and more of enterprise computing. Just look at the growth over the last 5 years when all that was offered was x86-32.

Once SAP/Oracle/MS/et.al. offer their enterprise apps certified to x86-64 and OEMs offer x86-64 servers with RAS features, why would anyone buy anything else.

You can get a 4-way Opteron that offers superior performance for less than a 2-way Power or IPF system. Similarly you can get two 2-way Xeons that offer higher performance for less than a single 2-way Power/IPF system.

The change won't happen overnight, as chips take a long time to die, so don't expect everyone to knife their proprietary chips anytime soon. Nevertheless, x86 will one day rule the high-end of the enterprise market.

[jhalada]

wbmw,

Meanwhile, the prospects of IPF put it somewhere in the high end segment competing against RISC players like Power and SPARC.

I think x86 with 64 bits is much more of a threat to them.

This market isn't going away, and it still represents ~50% of server revenue.

Adoption of x86 involves cost savings, so when you replace a $100,000 RISC system with $20,000 system, the x86 market does not realize dollar market share proportional to unit market share.

Joe