A study from TheInfoPro shows users are strongly considering to adopt servers fro IBM, HPQ and Sun based on AMD's Opteron processor as an alternative to Intel offerings such as Pentium, Xeon, or Itanium.
In the one-on-one interviews TIP asked users many detailed questions about units of technology installed at Year-End 2004, followed by "new units likely to be installed in 2005". The rise of interest in AMD systems was significant:
Roughly 60% of reported NO standalone AMD servers installed at Year-End 2004, while only 20% expected to end 2005 without installing AMD servers.
Over 50% of users expected to install between 1 and 49 new standalone units in 2005, while roughly 10% expected to add between 50 and 99 units.
Over 15% expected to add between 200 and 499 standalone units in 2005.
HP was the most often cited standalone AMD server provider, followed IBM and Sun.
"Users described interest and excitement over AMD's 64-bit Opteron server capabilities, citing price performance advantages over Intel-based boxes, both for 64-bit Linux installations, as well as running in 32-bit mode running Microsoft Windows Server 2003," notes Bob Gill, TIP's Chief Research Officer. "With the 64-bit version of Windows Server, which is supported on Opteron, beginning to enter the market, users are hoping for even greater performance for Windows Server installations."
