Advanced Micro Devices announced the launch of three new low power AMD Athlon 64 processors which are designed to be used in embedded systems solutions. The launch was hosted by the Embedded Systems Conference and the three new additions to the AMD embedded product lineup give embedded systems manufacturers and designers the ability to use advanced AMD64 technology with processing units that are having a TDP rating as low as 8W. The three Athlon 64 processors launched at that conference are single core architectures and they use the AM2 socket in order to connect to a mainboard.

''These new additions offer very low power and innovative processor features that can specifically address a range of embedded markets and they add to the multitude of power, price and performance combinations that AMD offers embedded system designers,'' said Buddy Broeker, director of Embedded Computing Solutions, AMD. ''We are also dedicated to helping manage infrastructure changes. Our new processors are compatible with existing AM2 boards, giving designers a more robust menu of processor options on a ready-to-go platform. This can speed time to market and decrease development costs.''

The processor manufacturing company, AMD, is confident in the success of these products aimed at the embedded systems market as they are offering the possibility for a number of customers to upgrade some of their hardware configurations while maintaining compatibility with already deployed solutions. Among the AMD customers that are boasting compatible mainboards with the new Athlon 64 processors there are a number of important motherboard manufacturing companies like Aaeon, Albatron, iBase, ICP, iEi, and WinMate Communication.

AMD launched the processors models 2000+, 2600+ and 3100+ that are featuring power envelopes of 8, 15, and 25W maximum thermal design power, respectively, while supporting error correcting and buffered memory modules for increased reliability, a fact that makes them well suited for applications like Network Attached Storage (NAS), Advanced Mezzanine Cards (AMCs) for the telecommunications market, and various single board computing and industrial implementations.

All these processors from AMD will be available for embedded systems manufacturers starting in the last months of the year. This product launch is just the first in a longer series, according to AMD, as the company has plans to expand its embedded solution offering with the addition of central processing units from the Bobcat and Quad-core Opteron product lines in order to deliver a significant performance boost to all embedded platforms.