Supermicro out of the AMD closet?

[George Macdonald]

They've officially signed up for the AMD SVP
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/060124/20060123006174.html?.v=1 but there are still
no signs of AMD-based products shown by simply navigating their Web site
product lists. A search there for "opteron" turns up four 1U chassis
products but they don't appear anywhere else that I can find.

They've been selling Opteron mbrds through channels since at least last
summer AFAIK but still no product listing. It does make you wonder why
they're so umm, shy?<nudge><nudge><wink>......

 

[Rob Stow]

They've officially signed up for the AMD SVP
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/060124/20060123006174.html?.v=1 but there are still
no signs of AMD-based products shown by simply navigating their Web site
product lists. A search there for "opteron" turns up four 1U chassis
products but they don't appear anywhere else that I can find.

They've been selling Opteron mbrds through channels since at least last
summer AFAIK but still no product listing. It does make you wonder why
they're so umm, shy?<nudge><nudge><wink>......

OEMs and vendors can apply for access to a restricted web site
that does show the Opteron boards. They are not selling directly
to consumers, so why show the boards to them ?

If you want to browse their Opteron boards,
http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=M&Category_Code=OMB

 

[Scott Alfter]

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OEMs and vendors can apply for access to a restricted web site
that does show the Opteron boards. They are not selling directly
to consumers, so why show the boards to them ?

By that logic, why would any motherboard vendor put info about its products
in a publically-accessible area?

If you want to browse their Opteron boards,
http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=M&Category_Code=OMB

....and if you then buy one of these boards through a reseller, what happens
if you need (for instance) a BIOS upgrade? If all their info is hidden
behind a reseller-only wall, you're stuck.

It seems to me that you might still be better off buying from a company that
isn't embarrassed (or whatever) to put info about its products where the
people who will end up buying them can find it and use it in their
comparison-shopping efforts.

_/_
/ v \ Scott Alfter (remove the obvious to send mail)
(IIGS( http://alfter.us/ Top-posting!
\_^_/ rm -rf /bin/laden >What's the most annoying thing on Usenet?

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[George Macdonald]

OEMs and vendors can apply for access to a restricted web site
that does show the Opteron boards. They are not selling directly
to consumers, so why show the boards to them ?

The things that people will do to make Intel happy! So this means the end
user has to get his "support" through an OEM.

If you want to browse their Opteron boards,
http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=M&Category_Code=OMB

Yeah that was one of the "channels" I'd seen.

 

[nobody]

They've officially signed up for the AMD SVP
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/060124/20060123006174.html?.v=1 but there are still
no signs of AMD-based products shown by simply navigating their Web site
product lists. A search there for "opteron" turns up four 1U chassis
products but they don't appear anywhere else that I can find.

They've been selling Opteron mbrds through channels since at least last
summer AFAIK but still no product listing. It does make you wonder why
they're so umm, shy?<nudge><nudge><wink>......

Well, if you know the exact model you are looking for, and enter it
into search box, you'll get there:

http://www.supermicro.com/Aplus/motherboard/Opteron/nForce/H8DCE.cfm

But they definitely don't want to ruffle Otellini's feathers. The
very fact they make these boards likely put quite a strain on their
relations with INTC.

 

[George Macdonald]

Well, if you know the exact model you are looking for, and enter it
into search box, you'll get there:

http://www.supermicro.com/Aplus/motherboard/Opteron/nForce/H8DCE.cfm

Hmm, well looky here: http://www.supermicro.com/Aplus/motherboard/ where
you can actually see them all including some with Serverworks chipsets.
I'd heard that Serverworks was doing AMD chipsets but this is nuts: having
to be furtive about products you make and want to sell... to pay the rent.

But they definitely don't want to ruffle Otellini's feathers. The
very fact they make these boards likely put quite a strain on their
relations with INTC.

Could even seem like AMD's court case is starting to bear fruit
already.<shrug>

 

[Rob Stow]

I just noticed that if you go to http://www.supermicro.com and
search for Opteron it now returns 5 hits when until a couple of
weeks ago it would return 0 hits.

Hmm, well looky here: http://www.supermicro.com/Aplus/motherboard/

.... but none of the aforementioned search results return anything
in the Aplus section of the website or even hints at the
existence of the APlus site.

where
you can actually see them all including some with Serverworks chipsets.
I'd heard that Serverworks was doing AMD chipsets but this is nuts: having
to be furtive about products you make and want to sell... to pay the rent.


Could even seem like AMD's court case is starting to bear fruit
already.<shrug>

I'm not so sure that SuperMicro was feeling any need to cozy up
to Intel. I was under the impression that their relationship
with Intel was already getting rocky before they decided to start
making Opteron motherboards.

IIRC, SuperMicro/BroadCom had been making chipsets for Intel x86
servers for many years and then Intel decided that they were no
longer going to allow them to do that. A kick in the nuts like
that from Intel would not be expected to make SuperMicro feel
like part of the team.

 

[George Macdonald]

I just noticed that if you go to http://www.supermicro.com and
search for Opteron it now returns 5 hits when until a couple of
weeks ago it would return 0 hits.

Yeah well that's where I got the "four 1U chassis products".

... but none of the aforementioned search results return anything
in the Aplus section of the website or even hints at the
existence of the APlus site.

No but from the abovementioned H8DCE page, in the path "history", there are
links to "A+ Products" and "Motherboards". From there you can navigate to
their AMD products; the A+ Systems link shows 13x 1U systems, 1x 2U system
and 2x tower/4U systems. All this is "for OEM customers only" of course
and no support links... yet.

I'm not so sure that SuperMicro was feeling any need to cozy up
to Intel. I was under the impression that their relationship
with Intel was already getting rocky before they decided to start
making Opteron motherboards.

The fact that they've been making and selling the AMD mbrds for nearly a
year already and are still keeping it quiet, would seem to indicate more
than just time taken to roll out.

IIRC, SuperMicro/BroadCom had been making chipsets for Intel x86
servers for many years and then Intel decided that they were no
longer going to allow them to do that. A kick in the nuts like
that from Intel would not be expected to make SuperMicro feel
like part of the team.

Yeah but there were other OEMs using Serverworks/Broadcom chipsets... even
Dell. We'll see how long it takes for Supermicro to go public with support
for AMD systems. I'm guessing they have some level of technical &
logistical "support" from Intel and they'd rather not lose it. If Dell
"falls", I'd think the whole ballgame changes for everbody.