Blockbuster: AMD Buys ATI - 25 Jul 2006

Free Windows Server 2003 Training CD (MCSE/MCSA)

Become MCSE or MCSA 2003 certified with training from AppDev, award-winning provider of technical training. See AppDev quality for yourself! We'll send you a free CD taken directly from our new "Managing and Maintaining Windows Server 2003" course (exam 70-290). Click below to get your free CD--a $115 value!

http://www.appdev.com/promo/RN00423

==== IN THE NEWS

Blockbuster: AMD Buys ATI

by Paul Thurrott, [email protected]

Microprocessor maker AMD announced that it's purchasing graphics chip maker ATI Technologies in a blockbuster deal for $5.4 billion in cash and stock. Although many question the extravagant sum AMD is paying for the company, AMD's intentions are clear: By bringing an established graphics chip player in house, AMD can offer more direct competition to market leader Intel and potentially open more doors at AMD holdouts such as Dell.

"ATI shares our passion and complements our strengths: Technology leadership and customer-centric innovation," says AMD's Chairman and CEO Hector Ruiz. "Bringing these two great companies together will allow us to transcend what we have accomplished as individual businesses and reinvent our industry as the technology leader and partner of choice. We believe AMD and ATI will drive growth and innovation for the entire industry, enabling our partners to create differentiated solutions and empowering our customers to choose what is best for them."

AMD is positioning the purchase almost as a merger, noting that the two companies will "join forces" to create "a new and more formidable company." According to AMD, the companies will integrate their products, providing PC makers and consumers with chipsets that combine AMD's microprocessors with ATI's graphics chipsets.

Intel has been integrating graphics chipsets with its microprocessors for years, and the company's products have recently grown more powerful. The latest version of Intel's integrated graphics chipset is capable of handling the Windows Vista's Aero UI, for example, and is the only integrated graphics chipset that can do so.

Currently, AMD partners with ATI's major competitor NVIDIA for graphics chipsets, so it will be interesting to see how this purchase affects NVIDIA. ATI also partners with Intel. AMD says its partnership with NVIDIA will continue, although it's pretty obvious that all these partnerships will likely dissolve over time. For its part, NVIDIA claims the ATI purchase is the best thing to happen to it. An NVIDIA spokesman said the company is now the only major independent provider of graphics processors and is more valuable to its partners and customers as a result. Not coincidentally, NVIDIA stock shot up more than 10 percent in the wake of the ATI deal.

Editors' Note
Take the Windows IT Pro Salary Survey!
We need your help! Windows IT Pro is launching its third Windows IT Pro Industry Salary Survey, and we want to find out all about you and what makes you a satisfied IT pro. When you complete the survey (about 10 minutes of your time), you’ll be entered in a drawing for one of five $100 American Express gift certificates. Look for the survey results--and how you stack up against your peers--in our December issue. To take the survey, go to

https://websurveyor.net/wsb.dll/12237/WITPSalarySurvey06.htm

==== EVENTS AND RESOURCES

Is your continuity solution letting you down? If you're not getting 100% coverage against lost or missing messages, even for short, unplanned outages, you might be jeopardizing your messaging system integrity and your company productivity. Learn how to manage disruptions to your messaging environment without breaking the bank in the process. Live Event: Tuesday, August 3

http://www.windowsitpro.com/go/seminars/messageone/neverlose/?partnerref=0726emailannc

==== FEATURED WHITE PAPER

On average, enterprises spend $10 million anually on IT compliance. How much is your company spending? Learn to streamline and automate the compliance life cycle and reduce your costs today!

http://www.windowsitpro.com/go/whitepapers/scalable/compliance?code=0726featwp

==== ANNOUNCEMENTS

Save $40 off Windows IT Pro Magazine
Subscribe to Windows IT Pro magazine today and SAVE up to $40! Along with your 12 issues, you'll also get FREE access to the entire Windows IT Pro online article archive, which houses more than 9,000 helpful IT articles. This is a limited-time offer, so order now:

https://store.pentontech.com/index.cfm?s=1&promocode=eu2068uw

==== CONTACT US

About the newsletter -- [email protected]
About technical questions -- http://www.windowsitpro.com/forums
About product news -- [email protected]
About your subscription -- [email protected]
About sponsoring an UPDATE -- [email protected]

==== BY THE WAY

Be sure to add [email protected] to your list of allowed senders and contacts.

Take a look at all of our technology newsletters:

http://www.windowsitpro.com/email/

This email newsletter is by the same people who create Windows IT Pro Magazine every month. Check it out!

http://www.winnetmag.com/rd.cfm?code=00ep204xeb

http://www.windowsitpro.com/