32-Way Opteron Systems Could Ship Next Year

STANFORD, Calif.—An interconnect chipset permitting server vendors to design up to 32-way Opteron systems will be available later this year, executives from Newisys Inc. said Monday night.

Newisys, started as an Austin, Texas, startup in July 2000, was acquired by contract manufacturing giant Sanmina/SCI in July 2003. In 2003, before the Sanmina/SCI acquisition, Newisys executives had talked about shipping a 32-way Opteron by the fourth quarter of that year.

Instead, the “Horus” chip was designed to allow a glueless eight-way system using Advanced Micro Devices Inc.’s Opteron chip. The number of processors could also be increased if multiple cores are used. Newisys executives told a Hot Chips conference audience here that the Horus chip has taped out, will sample later this year, and will ship to systems partners in early 2005.

“We wanted to get the message out that Opteron is not going to stop at four sockets or eight sockets but go beyond,” said Rich Oehler, the company’s chief technology officer. “We have the technology to do that.”

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