Several vendors of tools for software development announced their
support for Advanced Micro Devices's (AMD) upcoming Opteron and
Athlon chips.
Etnus, MigraTec, Numerical Algorithms Group and STMicroelectronics
will release versions of their existing products for the chips,
which adds to the number of software and hardware vendors that have
already pledged support.
Hammer is the code name for AMD's x86-64 technology, which blends
64-bit technology with the x86 microprocessor family run by most of
the world's computers, so software written for AMD's older 32-bit
technology will be able to run on Hammer chips without being
recompiled. Opteron is the chip for servers and workstations, while
AMD will keep its Athlon desktop brand name, for the new Hammer
desktop chip.
The announcement brings AMD's partners closer to being able to
piece together a PC or server with products designed for the x86-64
technology, said John Crank, senior branding associate in the
Athlon product line.
Several internal component vendors, such as Via Technologies and
Nvidia, have announced support for Hammer, and Microsoft will
develop a version of Windows optimised for the chips.
STMicroelectronics' Portland Group Complier Technology will allow
developers to create software using C and C++, two of the most
popular programming languages in use, Crank said. Etnus will bring
its TotalView debugger product, which already supports 32-bit
Athlon processors, to Hammer, it said in a release.
MigraTec makes 64Express, a source-code migration tool that will
allow developers to take code written for 32-bit machines and port
it to 64-bit ones, the company said. NAG manufactures numerical
libraries that save time for software developers and get high
performance out of 64-bit technology, NAG said.
Athlon will be out late this year, while Opteron is expected in the
first half of 2003, said Crank.. Opteron will join Intel's Itanium
2 in trying to grab market share away from proprietary Unix server
vendors such as Sun Microsystems and IBM.