AMD is extolling the virtues of virtualisation for small businesses (SMBs).

The chipmaker said today it hopes to step up its presence in the SMB space within the next 18 months as it brings Barcelona – the firm's four-core version of the Opteron server chip – to market.

It said the best way to do that was through responding to the growing shouts and screams coming from the little guys who see virtualisation, alongside power efficiency, as key issues driving their business needs.

To underline its interest in the SMB space, AMD has kicked off a new strategy named Common Core, aimed at "simplifying systems management".

Opteron product manager Steve Demski claimed that, in contrast to arch-rival Intel, AMD offered a more "stable, consistent roadmap".

He said: "We aren't churning through our OEM product lines as quickly as our competitor does. It makes it from a business standpoint easier for them to support their lifecycles so it's more like a three-year longevity."

The firm also proudly touted its "same socket infrastructure", which it reckoned could help reduce costs and disruption for companies not wanting to upgrade all hardware each time a new chip hits the market.

However, Demski pointed out: "One of the drawbacks with this approach is that people tend to look at us as less innovative."

The chipmaker also confirmed that Supermicro will be releasing a 4P blade platform in the final quarter of this year.

It will be shipping 1.9GHz and 2.0GHz versions of its four-core processor to system builders in August, with the product line hitting the channel and disties sometime in September.

Unsurprisingly, given AMDs recent hammering in what has effectively been a two-horse race with Intel, Demski defended the firm's market position, and said: "We believe that we are delivering just the same level of innovation but we are doing it within an infrastructure that is a little bit more customer friendly." ®

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