The new server processor design is similar to the core used by Opteron and Athlon 64 chips Advanced Micro Devices has added a new quad-core server processor to its road map. The new processor design, similar to the core used by the company’s Opteron and Athlon 64 processors, will debut in 2007.The processor will incorporate four cores connected together by a new version of the Hypertransport interconnect technology and will support DDR3 (Double Data Rate 3) memory, said Phil Hester, vice president and CTO of AMD, during the company’s analyst meeting last week.The server version of this chip will add a third level of cache memory to AMD’s processors, allowing server designers to build systems with 16 and 32 processors. AMD also said it will make relatively modest changes to its Opteron and Athlon 64 processors in 2006. The company will add support for DDR2 memory with the introduction of a new processor in the middle of 2006. That chip will also use a new socket technology called M2, which uses a different pin structure than the 939 socket currently used on most Opteron and Athlon 64 processors. The new socket design will allow customers who buy Opteron servers with the new mid-06 chips to upgrade to the quad-core chips without buying a new server.The 2006 dual-core chips will also introduce AMD’s Pacifica virtualization technology and its Presidio security technology into AMD-based systems. Technology Industry