Intel Corp. today pulled back the curtain on its long-awaited Itanium processor, formally announcing the release of the 64-bit chip that eventually could usher in a new round of competition in the high-end server and workstation markets.
Compaq Computer Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co. and IBM were among a large group of computer makers that immediately detailed plans to ship Itanium-based servers and workstations in the next few months. They joined Dell Computer Corp., which jumped the gun by saying last week that it would roll out a server based on Itanium early in the third quarter.
The official launch of the chip was no big surprise. Sources earlier this month pinpointed today as the scheduled date for Intel’s announcement (see story), and Microsoft Corp. last week unveiled plans for two new versions of Windows that are being designed to run on systems built around the 64-bit processor (see story).
Itanium is the product of a seven-year joint development effort by Intel and HP, and the new chip includes features that make it very different from Intel’s earlier 32-bit processors. The 64-bit technology is aimed at running large databases and applications such as data mining and heavy-duty transaction processing — capabilities that Intel hopes will help it move up the food chain to compete against Unix-based systems from the likes of IBM and Sun Microsystems Inc.
But analysts and hardware vendors alike said they don’t expect Itanium to shake up the server market overnight. Corporate users will likely tread cautiously with the new technology at first, according to analysts. Adoption rates may also be limited early on by a lack of available applications, they said.
In addition, a more powerful follow-on processor dubbed McKinley is due out next year, which could prompt some users to hold off on purchases for now. “This is the beginning of a large-scale industry transition,” said David Graves, a Dell spokesman. “Obviously, in a transition like this, things don’t happen overnight.”
Intel said Itanium-based machines will be offered with a variety of operating systems, including Microsoft’s upcoming 64-bit Windows releases, various Linux distributions and versions of Unix from HP and IBM. The servers and workstations are widely expected to be priced lower than their RISC/Unix rivals, although most vendors said they won’t be ready to discuss pricing until the new systems actually begin shipping.
HP and IBM have pledged to continue developing their proprietary RISC chips even while they promote servers and workstations based on the Itanium device. Only Sun is completely shunning the new processor, arguing that remaining focused on its own SPARC architecture will give it an edge over rival hardware vendors.
Among the vendors that are backing Itanium, HP announced a two-processor workstation and a pair of servers that will support up to four and 16 Itanium chips, respectively. The workstation and the four-way rx4610 server are due to go on sale late next month, with the 16-processor rx9610 expected to follow soon after that, an HP spokesman said.
IBM said it’s developing a four-processor Itanium server with 64GB of memory and support for clustering together hundreds of computing nodes. It also detailed a workstation that’s aimed at compute-intensive applications and scheduled for release on June 29 at a starting price of $16,799.
Compaq announced plans to ship new ProLiant servers equipped with the Itanium chip during this year’s third quarter. The first machine will support up to four processors and include new system management, mechanical, thermal and power distribution features, Compaq said.
(Doug Gray and Ashlee Vance of the IDG News Service contributed to this report.)
Related stories:
- Sun inks five-year, $200 million contract with Kodak, May 21, 2001
- IBM to build supercomputer around its Power4 chip, May 17, 2001
- Analysis: Many users not ready for high-end Intel servers, May 4, 2001
- Sun/IBM face-off may benefit users, April 23, 2001
