Advanced Micro Devices Inc. has placed a multiprocessing version of its value-class Duron processor on hold, a victim of the success of the Athlon MP.
The Duron MP, which has disappeared from the companys official processor roadmap, was originally designed to allow AMD entry into the sub-$1,500 server market, according to a spokeswoman for the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company.
“Its still something were considering, but it is on hold,” the spokeswoman said.
“Weve had additional discussion with OEMs, who said they had enough variation of product to meet all the needs they had for (multiprocessing servers). They didnt think a Duron (MP) would serve any purpose at this time.”
Analysts said the decision probably wouldnt have a great impact on AMDs fortunes. “I think in the broad scheme of things it was relatively minor in its significance,” said Nathan Brookwood, analyst with Insight 64, a consultancy in Saratoga, Calif. “Fundamentally AMD was thinking that value segment where dual processors was important. In reality, the price delta between Duron MP and Athlon MP wasnt that great, and the larger size cache does make a difference in (dual-processor) servers.”
The AMD spokeswoman said that the Duron MP, which had ben designed for only two-way servers, had lost ground to slower versions of the Athlon MP, especially the 1.2-GHz speed grade.
The Duron MP was not designed for so-called blade servers, she said, which cram several low-power processors on thin add-on cards, called blades, for high-density server racks. “We still havent made a product announcement on that,” she said.
