IBM will bulk up its line of Opteron-based products later this year with the roll-out of a new workstation

At the end of May, IBM will start shipping the new dual-processor IntelliStation A Pro system, offering AMD's Opteron processor running at up to 2.2GHz. The box will be aimed at engineers in need of powerful kit and at developers writing applications for the relatively new chip. Last year, IBM started shipping an Opteron server aimed at the technical computing market. "With the AMD Opteron processor, the IBM IntelliStation A Pro gives workstation users the power to handle demanding applications such as computer aided design (CAD), computer aided engineering (CAE), petroleum exploration and production, drug discovery, digital-content creation and financial analysis," said Bob Lenard, director of IBM's IntelliStation products. "Additionally, with AMD64 technology, our customers are getting the scalability of 64-bit computing without sacrificing compatibility and performance for existing 32-bit applications."