64-Bit Clustering for Opteron, New Development Tool for P4 and Xeon

New York City is hosting the LinuxWorld Conference & Expo this week, with scores of vendors looking to change the image of business computing as a "Wintel" world -- including Intel, which has announced new tools to help Linux software developers erase the "W" in "Wintel," and AMD, which hopes to see Opteron-powered Linux servers erase both parts of the word.

Taking AMD first, the chipmaker has announced that Scyld Computing Corp. is developing a 64-bit version of the leading cluster operating system, Scyld Beowulf, for systems based on AMD's forthcoming Opteron processors. The new OS, due in the mid first half of 2003, will be optimized for AMD's 64-bit "Hammer" technology to bring an enhanced Linux kernel, libraries, and utilities to clustered x86 computing.

AMD says the combination will provide the first 64-bit, x86-based classic cluster model, letting users take complicated sets of calculations and run them in parallel across multiple machines, instead of using a single, costly "big iron" server -- while still being able to run existing 32-bit applications at full speed.