As PC manufacturer Lenovo gears up for a mammoth global marketing push, PCs powered by 64-bit AMD processors, are available in Australia for the first time as of today, 1 March.

Lenovo's senior Thinkpad product manager in Australia, Frank Luburic, said the public could expect to see the Lenovo brand pushed out to the marketplace in advertising campaigns being run in print media, online, on billboards, at airports and at expo events.

While Mr Luburic would not disclose the sum of money being spent on the Australian part of the global campaign, it is obviously running into many millions and would feature both AMD and Intel in co-branding exercises.

"We're not favouring one brand over the other, both will be featured in our ads," he said.

AMD64 technology is now available in a new line of desktop PCs from Lenovo designed for small and mid-sized businesses. This is the first time AMD technology will be available on Lenovo PCs in Australia and globally, outside of China. The Lenovo 3000 J105 desktop, with a choice of AMD Athlon 64 or AMD Sempron processors, are available in Australia and New Zealand from 1 March 2006.

AMD and Lenovo have had a relationship for the past two years in China, where approximately 50% of Lenovos desktop systems are powered by AMD processors.

ғTodays launch shows the strong commitment between AMD and Lenovo to provide innovative solutions that address the needs of an increasing base of consumer and business customers and is another example of AMDҒs growing leadership in the commercial marketplace, said Bryan Low, vice president, sales and marketing South Asia AMD. ԓInnovation is at the heart of what AMD and Lenovo do, and by offering a choice of AMD processors to Lenovos small and mid-sized business customers we continue to see our innovative AMD64 technology put to use for an expanding market of desktop users.Ҕ

Our customers in China have already seen the benefits of what our two companies have accomplished together. By including AMD technology in our new range of Lenovo-branded J105 desktop PCs, weӒre able to offer more choice to our small and mid-sized business customers, said David Nicol, product strategist, Lenovo Australia and New Zealand. ԓThese customers are looking for simplified, affordable computers that let them focus on running their business, rather than worrying about their computer systems.

Unlike higher market share rivals like Dell and Acer, Lenovo intends to stick with the channel retail model rather than focus on direct online selling.