2007 Tech Innovators: Unlocking The Secrets Of Innovation

FOR AMD, the challenge in designing the quad-core Opteron Barcelona processor wasn't coming up with the highest-performing chip possible. It was designing a high-performance product that remained compatible with the system architectures of AMD's system builder customers and didn't consume twice as much power or generate twice as much heat.

"We could take a clean sheet of paper and build the most leading-edge processor with the coolest stuff," said John Fruehe, AMD worldwide market development manager for server products. "But it wouldn't be what the customer wanted. Keeping it within the realm of what customers expected was really where the innovation occurred," he said.

Development of the new Opteron chip began as early as 2003, Fruehe said. Although it's built on Opteron architecture that goes back to 1999, it's designed to operate within the same socket and thermal range as AMD's current generation of dual-core processors.

One innovation, for example, is the chip's ability to turn off portions of its processor logic and memory controller when not in use to reduce power consumption.

Given the long lead time needed to develop products like this, the biggest challenge is anticipating customers' needs years beforehand, said Gary Bixler, director of North America marketing. "The first thing you do is spend a lot of time with your customers. And you just listen a lot."

--Rick Whiting

Next: 2007 Tech Innovator Award Winners And Finalists