Dell CEO confirms line of Opteron waiters

Are you being served?

By Ashlee Vance in Chicago • Get more from this author

Posted in Servers, 2nd March 2004 19:58 GMT

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Dell Inc. plans to roll out a fleet of Opteron-based waiters to sit alongside Xeon-based servers, according to a report out of France.

Last week, trusted French trade publication 01net published an interview with Michael Dell in which the CEO contradicted past positions regarding AMD's Opteron processor. The story was titled: "Michael Dell: 'We will launch soon waiters containing processors AMD.'"

Okay, the waiters part comes from a Babelfish translation that uses an accurate although perhaps too literal translation of server. We turned to a charming French expert to get the real skinny on Dell's plans.

Michael Dell: First of all, I think taking the x86 architecture and extending it to 64-bits is a great idea. But AMD isn't the only vendor doing that anymore. Intel is also doing it. We will offer servers using x86 processors with 64-bit extensions even before compatible software becomes available. Now to the question of whether or not it makes sense to offer both Intel and AMD servers in our portfolio, the answer is clearly yes.

Was Mikey hitting the champers too hard?

How else can you explain this sudden change of heart. During Intel's Xeon (now enhanced) launch, Dell representatives said they had no plans to offer Opteron gear even though they have been testing the processor for some time.

Dell often likes to play rivals off of each other in the press, suggesting a love for Linux or Opteron where appropriate. This seems to be a reminder to the Wintel mob to stay in line.

Dell will be rolling out servers based on Intel's 64-bit chip technology next quarter. At present, it's the only major server vendor not to back Opteron in some form. That is unless you believe Michael Dell. ®