Sun updates Opteron servers

BOSTON--Sun Microsystems, the most vocal proponent of Advanced Micro Devices' Opteron chip, has updated its two-processor and four-processor servers with the latest models, the server giant said here at the LinuxWorld Conference and Expo. The Sun Fire V20z now is available with the Opteron 252, while the V40z is available with the Opteron 852. Sun Opteron server customers include the China National Petroleum, Dygra Films, EDS, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), Schlumberger, Yahoo subsidiary Overture Services and the University of Nottingham.

Hewlett-Packard also sells general-purpose Opteron servers, but Sun became AMD's top customer for the chip late in 2004. Opteron processors compete chiefly with Intel's Xeon family, which lagged by more than a year the 64-bit memory extensions that debuted in Opterons in 2003. Xeons for dual-processor servers have 64-bit capability today, and Xeons for four-processor servers will be updated with the feature in the next 90 days.