AMD To Bundle With Miramar

AMD, Sunnyvale, Calif., said the bundles will provide select systems builders and OEMs with "a strong value-add" because the bundles can help them more easily migrate a user's desktop settings from one CPU to another.

Kevin Knox, AMD's director of worldwide commercial business development, said the chip maker will evaluate each solution provider to ensure the systems are used in commercial migrations. The license, which Miramar sells retail for $39 or $49 with a cable, will be free from AMD to solution providers who qualify.

The software offering is AMD's response to reports that migration costs on desktop PCs were becoming a key concern of CIOs.

"[Miramar's software] actually migrates the personality of the PC, things like network settings [and] personal settings. It provides significant cost-savings from a TCO perspective," Knox said.

David Chang, president of Agama Systems, a Houston-based systems builder, said the issue for many corporate IT buyers is not as much migration cost as psychology.

"What AMD is trying to accomplish is to get all the white-box builders to promote the machine in the corporate world," Chang said.

"As a corporate buyer, you've got a certain budget to spend. Why change to AMD? ... As long as [the corporate buyers] don't make a mistake, they can secure their [jobs]," he said.

Knox said the initial bundles will include Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Miramar's Desktop DNA software with Athlon XP processors, and the companies are discussing offering the software with AMD's Athlon 64, 64-bit processors, which are due for release in September.