AMD readies rival to Intel's Viiv

AMD is to launch a new brand to better associate its processors with PC-based home digital media systems, the company has revealed.

The news was broken by AMD's sales and marketing chief, Henri Richard, speaking at the company's annual analysts conference, the Financial Times reported last week.

At the event, AMD also said it is planning to put together a whitebox notebook reference design to boost its support among system builders and OEMs keen to break into the mobile computing market.

Curiously, the company initially told The Register that no such announcement had been made, but later, after checking the transcripts, a spokesman was forced to confess that AMD's processor chief, Marty Seyer, had indeed made statements to that fact. Whoops.

Richard's branding plan comes on the heels of the launch of Intel's home entertainment PC platform, Viiv, announced last August and due to arrive on the market in January. Sources familiar with Intel's retail strategy tell us the chip giant is having difficultly getting retailers to understand Viiv, which they irritatingly refuse to pronounce properly - 'viv' rather than 'vive', we're told.

Let's hope AMD is able to come up with a brandname whose name is not only less opaque but also easier to pronounce. Or not. How about... AMD niin (pronounced 'nine' - or should that be "nein!")? ®