AMD launches A1100 64-bit Opteron developer kits

Developers can now buy AMD's first developer kit based around its Seattle 64-bit ARM processor, the Opteron A1100. It will retail for $2,999 (about £1,900, AU$ 3,200).The development kit comprises of a single processor with four Cortex-A57 cores with 16GB DDR3 RAM, 8 SATA connectors, standard power connectors and PCI express connectors, all crammed on a small microATX motherboardAlso included in the package is a Standard Linux GNU tool chain, including cross-development version, a Fedora Linux distribution, platform device drivers, Apache web server, MySQL database engine, and PHP scripting language for developing robust Web serving applications.More to come?During an update earlier this year, it was revealed that the A1100 will accommodate up to eight cores clocked at up to 2GHz. AMD is still using an old 28nm process, which means that power dissipation - which stood back then at 20W - could still be slashed.The processor comes with 4MB L2 cache and 8MB L3 cache as well as an additional Cortex-A5 core and an unidentified coprocessor tasked with encryption and compression duties.Expect to see demos of the A1100 at IFA in Berlin, Germany in September. Last year, AMD displayed complete kits from its SeaMicro acquisition including an imposing server rack.Should Qualcomm buy AMD?

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