Can AMD Regain Your Trust?

"Although I see AMD trying to work with motherboard manufacturers and server vendors, the level of support is nowhere near what I get from Intel," said David Stinner, president of US itek Group, a system builder in Buffalo, N.Y. "With Intel's fast warranty replacement on processors, mainboards, server parts and notebooks and corporate stable chipsets, I can base my efforts on selling a stable product with the back-end Intel Engineering support, if needed, and know that my image won't be tarnished in the event of a downed server or workstation. That allows me to sell confidence in my server, SAN, workstation and notebook products to the small business."

AMD, meanwhile, is expanding its channel programs, and AMD Validated Solutions will continue to evolve and expand, said Ron Myers, divisional manager of AMD Validated Solutions. He noted that AMD is currently stocking replacement inventory in the Technical Service Center in Sunnyvale, Calif., so it can replace any of the AMD Validated Solutions commercial desktop motherboards. Although some partners say the AMD Depot is yet to be finished, Myers said it is "up and running" and AMD soon will embark on a road show to educate system builders about the desktop RMA service.

The first four AVS desktop motherboards that shipped last fall use existing Commercial Stable Image Program (CSIP) chipsets from ATI and Nvidia. After completing its acquisition of ATI, AMD followed up in the first quarter of 2007 by announcing four more AVS boards—this time based on ATI's newly introduced 690G chipsets for Windows Vista and other graphics-crunching applications.

Next, AMD partners will make available the first set of validated server motherboards with a similar stability period, support, service and a replacement program in the first half of 2007, with more server platforms being added to the program through the end of the year, Myers said. And AMD also will ship new AVS boards that use chips from ATI rival Nvidia, he said.

Satisfied AMD partners say they are enjoying better support and attention from AMD than in years past. Debi Cooper, sales and operations manager at system builder M&A Technology's San Antonio office, said she originally did business with the underdog because its pricing was better than Intel, but now it's performance—and partner support—that keeps her faithful to AMD.

"I have a rep that calls on my office and comes once per month, and he and his engineers are accessible and timely in their response. It's an easy company to work with," Cooper said. "The level of support and the method of getting support is better. AMD has kept its Web site updated with current information, drivers and benchmarks, and that has helped me as well."

Wong said said AMD has provided ZT Systems with additional MDF and incentives to promote the AVS solutions, such as free game bundles. "It's been a great effort, especially over the past few months," she said. "We've seen a lot of programs to help the channel and make sure we get something out of it."

Some system builders said AVS is a good start, but AMD has a long way to go to catch up to Intel's services for the channel. "AVS is one tool they will need in their arsenal if they are serious about getting the attention of the channel, but it is only one tool. Component validation is fundamental. Disk drives, memory, even operating systems can provide an integrator with a list of validated platforms," said Pat Taylor, president of Proactive Technologies, Carrollton, Texas.

"It is encouraging to see that AMD is finally doing something to cultivate an ecosystem for their products," Taylor added. "But will it sway me and other integrators to look at AMD again? No, not likely. It goes far beyond simple platform validation."

Steve Bohman, vice president of operations at Columbus Micro Systems, Columbus, Ohio, said he has been telling AMD for years that they need to have an advanced warranty replacement program for motherboards to compete with Intel.

"The question now is whether or not they're too late. My guess is whenever they do finally launch a motherboard return program, it will help them gain traction in the system builder community," he said. "But they sure missed their chance to make a big impact before the launch of Intel's Core 2 processors."