How AMD will position the Athlon 64

WHEN AMD RELEASES its first Athlon 64 microprocessor on the 23rd of September, it's got different messages depending on which slabs of the market it sells to.

Documents seen by the INQ show that AMD is, in general, positioning the Athlon 64 as "the only Windows compatible 64 bit PC processor".

The messages are aimed at "tech savvy" consumers, small and medium businesses, and what AMD calls the "commercial" market.

Tech Savants
AMD will tell the tech savvy that this gives them "astonishing and true to life digital entertainment experiences". The Tech Savants can "escape into a movie like gaming experience and get set for the next wave of 3D interactive games". The Athlon 64 will run next gen software with compatibility for current applications. The integrated DDR memory controller and HypeTransport will "outpace the technology curve with a technically superior PC processor".

Small Businessmen
Businessmen below 5'6" are to be told that AMD64 is revolutionary technology that "stretches your IT dollar". It gives "breakthrough application performance", and "mazimises performance on 32-bit apps. The small businessmen can move to 64-bit computing at their own pace, without sacrificing hardware or software. They can also get out the battery leads and "jumpstart productivity" with better performance for popular business applications.

Below is a picture of how your IT dollar might look if stretched.

Commercial Fellow Travellers
Big business can "pare down their total cost of ownership" with AMD64 technology, and will have "superior performance for mission critical business applications", and be ready for the coming Tsunami of 64-bit computing across the entire enterprise.

The Commercial segment can move to 64-bit computing at its own pace, and run 32-bit and 64-bit software at the same time. They'll be able to "enhance productivity and multitasking" across an organisation because of HypeTransport technology and an integrated memory controller.