ITinfo: 64-Bit Itanium Opens Opportunities

64-Bit Processor & Linux OSes

Linux has a clear field; no Microsoft challenge

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64-Bit Itanium Opens Opportunities

by Dave Murphy
ISSN 1535-3613

Intel's new 64-bit Itanium microprocessor didn't get the opening-day hoorays that Intel had hoped. But some system developers are feverishly working behind the scenes to put the high-power processor to work.

Itanium servers and workstations will help Linux developers get their collective foot in the door in enterprise accounts: taking away big-dollar customers from Microsoft.Caldera International, Red Hat, SuSE Linux and Turbolinux all plan to release their 64-bit versions of Linux for the Itanium processor this summer.

Itanium is the first in a new line of chips that Intel hopes will give it leverage to break into corporate data centers, where very high-performance applications typically run on relatively expensive Unix servers or mainframes. The Itanium chip's 64-bit architecture breaks from the current PC standard of 32-bit architecture.

Microsoft's 64-bit server operating system (OS), Windows XP 65-Bit Edition isn't expected until this fall. With competing Linux OSes releasing a full quarter earlier, Microsoft will be forced to play catchup rather than having the benefit of an installed base from which to defend its market.

Dave's Opinion

Itanium offers the ability to handle applications requiring more memory and faster processor cache. Network servers, data center processing systems, CAD engineering workstations, and graphic design workstations will be early Itanium/Linux installations.

AMD will soon release an x86 64-bit chip, called SledgeHammer. According to AMD, its x86 64-bit architecture will run both 32-bit and 64-bit applications, automatically switching modes as required, with no user intervention. Lightning Data Transport, the new system bus outlined by AMD, will support bandwidth as high as 6.4Gbits/second and will have an internal data link allowing bandwidth increases for I/O (input/output), coprocessing, and multiprocessing.

I'm looking forward to upgrading our network servers and the Linux workstation I use to 64-bit Red Hat, when it arrives on the scene. Our Linux servers and workstations now run the Red Hat (Intel) 32-bit OS with 256MB of RAM. I'm hoping the cost of RAM and other related components continue to drop so an upgrade to 64-bit processing and a gigabyte of RAM won't break the bank.

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References

Intel
Microsoft
Caldera
Red Hat
SuSE
Turbolinux
AMD
Message Center

Intel Rolls Out 64-Bit Chip
AMD Readies 64-Bit SledgeHammer

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updated June 4, 2001
http://dgl.com/itinfo/2001/it010604.html