The next article in our series of interviews with industry company executives, PR persons and general know-it-alls that answers those questions burning in your minds about the industry and/or the company in focus. The unique feature of this series is that you, our readers, are the ones asking the questions.

Here we have your questions posed to Advanced Micro Devices with answers graciously provided by AMD spokesman Drew Prairie.

Amish-Chief asks: What are the Sledgehammer's "battle tactics" to take on the Itanium? Any specifics developed yet?

AMD: Essentially we are taking a completely different approach to 64-bit computing. We believe there is tremendous value in the existing x86 code base and potential to go even further with it. In contrast with Intel, our fastest 64-bit processor will also be our fastest 32-bit processor, and vice-versa. Why is this important? A number of reasons, but essentially it means that our product lines will not need to be dramatically fractured with two different processor families addressing 64-bit and 32-bit computing. Our mantra on x86-64 technology is that it provides a high-powered solution for 64-bit computing while continuing to deliver high-performance 32-bit applications.

Casket Asks: Recent benchmarks from the Itanium have shown subpar performance in translating x86 code. Does this open the door to AMD for a ClawHammer processor?

AMD: We believe the design of the Hammer family of processors (SledgeHammer for multi-way servers and ClawHammer for dual/single-processor systems) presents AMD with a number of great opportunities, regardless of any of our competitor¡¦s product offerings. The Hammer family is designed to run 32-bit x86 code natively, along with 64-bit x86-64 code. So, as we make improvements to the Hammer family of processors, the benefits of those improvements can be applied to both 32- and 64-bit operations. Essentially, we are designing a 64-bit processor that can also deliver industry-leading performance on the 32-bit applications that should dominate the desktop for the foreseeable future.

Arcadian asks: How does AMD expect Clawhammer to fit into the 2-way space in 2002?

AMD: We have not gone into details as to the specific feature set of ClawHammer, but it has been designed to run 64-bit x86-64 code as well as deliver industry-leading performance on 32-bit x86 software. Palomino and the AMD-760MP chipset should help lay the groundwork for our future plans to further penetrate the server market with the Hammer family of products.