Itanium Solutions Alliance

From: JF Mezei (jfmezei.spamnot_at_teksavvy.com)
Date: 08/31/05 

Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 22:12:07 -0400

http://news.com.com/Itanium+allies+to+pool+development+efforts/2100-1006_3-5844877.html?tag=nefd.lede

Intel is getting its IA64 customers to fund an Itanium Solutions
Alliance to help promopte the struggling alliance.

The article then moves on to more familiar territory, outlining why IA64
just hasn't caught on. (It isn't just the inquirer that has negative
spin on IA64).

A few interesting sentences:

"What happened here is Intel seriously underestimated the support the
marketplace would have
for an incompatible platform and believed 'if we (Intel) say it's
industry standard, everybody will come.' Clearly that didn't happen."

In line with that high-end positioning, Microsoft's planned update to
its Windows Server 2003 operating system--called R2--won't be available
for Itanium. Microsoft's rationale for the move is that R2 is geared
toward smaller servers. The Window Server 2003 successor due in 2007,
code-named Longhorn Server, will support Itanium, however.

This one is really telling:

Itanium hasn't yet reached heir-apparent status by most estimates.
HP--the server maker that has pushed the chip most aggressively--sold
$108 million in Itanium-based Unix servers in the second quarter of
2005, compared with $1.1 billion in the PA-RISC-based Unix servers
they're intended to replace, according to Gartner figures.

Here is an example of where the writer can easily make a statement into
an editorial by adding one word:

                Intel's Itanium plans still extend years into the future.

Note the use of the word "STILL" in the above See, it isn't just the
inquirer that sees little future in IA64.

With numbers like this (the HP numbers) you wonder why HP is bothering
with IA64 at all. It really would be better for it to produce more speed
bumps for PaRisc and Alpha until the 8086 is ready for prime time.

The big question now is whether this effort to keep IA64 alive is Intel
driven, or driven by HP and possibly SGI to help justify their continued
reliance on that chip.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Year of the Itanium
    ... Intel toasts Itanium's success by giving servers away ... Aptly dubbed "The Intel Itanium 2 Solution Challenge," the new program ... server and related services for up to 90 days for a gratis kit evaluation. ... If you're a software maker looking for volume sales, ...
    (comp.os.vms)
  • Re: OT: Intel Demos 48-Core Prototype Chip
    ... of Itanium updates makes me think Intel is treating Itanium like a ... So, by the time the next IA64 comes out, people are likely to yawn at ... a similar case could be made for Intel. ... Intel thought AMD would only make incremental changes to their ...
    (comp.os.vms)
  • Re: HP exodus to Intel
    ... that played a major role in developing several models of the Itanium ... Intel will handle all future development for the Itanium line. ... nor the number of H-P employees who will ... the future technical foundation for three different H-P server lines. ...
    (comp.os.vms)
  • Re: Intel Article in Business Week Magazine
    ... Goodbye To The Chip Of The Future? ... Itanium server chip they had jointly developed three years ago, ... He announced that Intel will ...
    (comp.os.vms)
  • Re: It is almost certain now, INTEL will have 64bit x86 !!
    ... > But if IA64 remains at Intel, Intel will have to charge a hell of a lot of ... > money on chips because those chips don't generate sales of other products ... > whose profits justify the loss in IA64. ... Intel has been subsidizing Itanium ...
    (comp.os.vms)