Further demonstrating its commitment to lead the world to energy-efficient computing, AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced strong ecosystem support for DTX, the open standard specification driven by AMD to enable the broad development of small form factor (SFF) PCs. DTX has been developed to empower industry stakeholders to deliver innovative, energy-efficient small form factor solutions that are smaller, quieter, and desktop-friendly, all while delivering rich visual experiences. Companies including Akasa, Albatron, ASUS, Asetek, Compucase, ECS, Founder, FSP, Gigabyte, Hedy, NVIDIA, Shuttle, SilverStone Technology, Thermaltake, and Tongfang have expressed support for DTX, as well as their intent to develop and bring innovative solutions to market designed that benefit both businesses and consumers.

"AMD's customer-centric leadership role in defining DTX is invigorating the ecosystem and we are seeing the industry rally around the possibilities and future with this open standard," said Bob Brewer, corporate vice president, Desktop Division, AMD. "With the DTX open standard specification, the potential exists for the small form factor market to reap benefits similar to what the ATX standard has done for the desktop market in recent years. Leveraging commonalities within the PC ecosystem can also benefit customers and end users who value the size advantage, power savings, and quiet nature of energy-efficient systems."

AMD believes growth and availability of systems in the small form factor market can be accelerated with a mechanical interoperability standard that offers a similar business model and economics to what currently exists with ATX-based systems today. The DTX open standard specification is designed to help neutralize the cost difference between small form factor and standard desktop PCs by allowing OEMs, ODMs, and component vendors to take advantage of existing ATX infrastructure. Available benefits include cost efficiency, system options and backward-compatibility to help enable OEMs and the channel ecosystem offer ground-breaking PC design.

"Our customers have asked for energy-efficient solutions and smaller sizes," said Ms. Yingzhen Liao, vice president, Marketing Department, Founder Technology Group Corp. "We support AMD in their effort to enable the new DTX open standard for the next generation of desktops that enables optimum system design."

"The demand for desktop systems of small form factors has been growing throughout the PC industry," said Mr. Maowei Xing, general manager, Computer Systems Business Group, Desktop Product Division, Tsinghua Tongfang Co. Ltd. "DTX provides the opportunity for OEMs to supply solutions for what the market demands by leveraging this mechanical interoperability standard. We are excited to join AMD in supporting this broad ecosystem strategy for SFF standardization."

DTX embraces energy-efficient processors from AMD and other hardware vendors, and allows an optimally designed small form factor system to consume less power and generate less noise. When processor power consumption is reduced, system size and cooling costs can also go down. Energy-efficient processors can also help extend the longevity of PCs while offering consumer and business users a quiet, more pleasant experience in their offices or living rooms.

DTX Specification Now Available Online
With the release of a review copy of the proposed industry guidelines for DTX, AMD is encouraging companies to contribute to the guidelines. The DTX specification defines a minimum set of parameters necessary for interoperability, freeing vendors to innovate. A review copy is now available online at www.DTXPC.org.

• DTX allows up to four motherboards - for production optimization - per standard printed circuit board manufacturing panel;
• Mini-DTX allows up to six motherboards - for low cost - per standard printed circuit board manufacturing panel sizes;
• DTX motherboards can be manufactured in as few as four-layers of printed circuit board wiring for motherboard cost savings.

DTX Benefits Both Customers and End-Users
OEMs can to enjoy the inherent cost benefits of standardization. Enterprises can benefit from innovative designs that lower energy bills and therefore can help reduce overall operating costs, as well as sleeker systems taking less space in offices and cubicles and designed to operate quietly. Moreover, small form factors based on the DTX specifications will help enable differentiated and competitive solutions, thus choices for enterprises.

For consumers, the electricity cost savings benefit, while important, may be secondary to the innovative new designs for small form factor PCs, which AMD believes are better suited to non-traditional locations in the home. The flexibility of DTX will help enable an array of small form factor designs. The size and noise output of these smaller designs should be less intrusive than traditional PCs and designed to encourage more multi-PC households. When linked with the other PCs and devices, these small form factor PCs can help provide more convenient access and management of content for every end user in the home.