Compaq preps AMD Sledgehammer servers

Compaq and other major OEM customers of Advanced Micro Devices reportedly will introduce Sledgehammer-based servers as early as the fourth quarter of this year.

Board and chipset vendors have already received samples of AMD's 64-bit x86-based answer to Intel's Itanium processor, which was originally scheduled for a second half release but was pushed back to the fourth quarter. The story can be found at www.theregister.co.uk.

Meanwhile, an Intel official claims that stepping difficulties, not a lack of 64-bit applications, led to the Itanium's delay. A complete report is located at www.newsBytes.com.