AMD offers developer tools for 64-bit chips
Advanced Micro Devices and software firm Virtutech create a software tool that will enable developers to produce applications for AMD's next generation of processors.
Intel rival AMD said the tool would enable software developers to test programs written for the 64-bit Hammer architecture in time for the planned introduction of the processors in the first half of 2002.
Stockholm-based Virtutech's Simics software allows computers with AMD's 32-bit Athlon processors to simulate the operations performed by its 64-bit successors.
Processors using 64-bit technology can handle chunks of data at a greater speed, enabling more power-hungry applications such as large databases to run more quickly. This technology makes the chips attractive to the server market.
Competition between Intel and arch-rival AMD has moved from the desktop to the high-end computing arena, with both firms readying 64-bit hardware.
Unlike Intel's forthcoming 64-bit range of processors, known as IA-64, AMD's Hammer lineup will still be able to run 32-bit applications. Intel has created a new instruction set--EPIC (Explicitly Parallel Instruction Computing)--to power its IA-64 range.