IBM unveiled its first workstation based on the Advanced Micro Devices 64-bit Opteron chip, and boasted that it beat to market rivals such as Sun and Hewlett-Packard in bringing the processor to the technical desktop.
The IntelliStation A Pro, which is scheduled to ship in May, will be based on AMD's Opteron 244, 246, and 248 processors, which run at 1.8GHz, 2.0GHz and 2.2GHz, respectively. The workstation will be available in both single- and dual-processor configurations.
"This is the first workstation based on the Opteron from a top-tier company," said Charles King, research director at the Mountain View, Calif.-based Sageza Group.
Fujitsu's European subsidiary, Fujitsu Siemens, has been selling dual-processor Opteron workstations -- the Celsius V810 -- but not in the U.S.
"The most interesting thing about the IntelliStation is that since it's the first system [with the Opteron] offered globally, it offers the 32-bit to 64-bit mobility that servers now do, but in the workstation market," said King. "The fact that you can run both levels of apps offers users some additional flexibility."
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