AMD64 Support In Upcoming Microsoft Visual Studio “Whidbey” Provides 32- and 64-Bit Development Environment

-AMD64 processors planned to benefit from comprehensive support in the next release of Microsoft Visual Studio “Whidbey” and future Microsoft .NET Framework-

LOS ANGELES -- 10/30/2003 -- At the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference, AMD (NYSE: AMD) today is demonstrating AMD64 technology support in the “Whidbey” release of Microsoft Visual Studio .NET and the .NET Framework.

AMD64 technology, which provides native 32- and 64-bit support for the AMD Opteron™ and AMD Athlon™ 64 processors, enables an exceptional Visual Studio .NET development environment. “Whidbey” and the AMD64 platform together provide a clear migration path from 32- to 64-bit Windows application development allowing concurrent development and testing of 32- and 64-bit applications.

The combination of AMD64 technology and Visual Studio “Whidbey” will allow developers of data-intensive applications including rendering, databases, scientific computing and CAD, to capitalize on 64-bit architecture with limited changes in code. This can result in reduced effort and increased productivity for developers.

The next version of the Microsoft .NET Framework, code named “Whidbey”, will support AMD64 technology and is planned to be released for AMD64-based Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP as well as with the next version of the Windows platform code-named “Longhorn.” This will enable applications developed with “Whidbey”-capable tools such as Visual Studio .NET to run on AMD64 platforms.

“Developers from the industry’s leading software companies have already described the speed and ease of developing on the AMD64 platform- some ported millions of lines of code in only days,” said Marty Seyer, vice president and general manager of AMD’s Microprocessor Business Unit. “AMD64 processor-based systems and Visual Studio ‘Whidbey’ will help bring the power of 64-bit computing to the mainstream, in a fully compatible, fully integrated way while enhancing the developers’ environment.”

“Microsoft is pleased that AMD is supporting .NET Framework ‘Whidbey,’” said John Montgomery, director for the Developer and Platform Evangelism Division at Microsoft Corp. “Developers now have the ability to write .NET-connected applications quickly and easily, while taking advantage of the power and performance of the AMD64 processors.”

Also at PDC, AMD announced AMD64 support for beta versions of Windows XP 64-bit Edition, Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition and Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition for 64-bit extended systems, and “Longhorn.”

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