Itanium 2 awaits software

Intel will today, 8 July, start delivering its 64bit Itanium 2 processors to computer manufacturers. However, customers face a number of hardware and software hurdles if they choose to adopt the chip, and many remain uncertain about the right time to move from 32bit computing.

The need to optimise software is one major concern, as Itanium 2 users will have to recompile operating systems and applications each time Intel alters the micro-architecture of Itanium. Otherwise, performance will be below par. The next alteration is due in 2004. For operating systems, recompiling and testing may take six months, and applications may take a further six months.

Many software vendors plan to support the chip, but none is likely to offer several versions of their applications, optimised for different versions of Itanium. Vendors may withdraw support for older products as Intel updates the Itanium hardware.

Intel declined to comment on this issue but said many computer makers will introduce Itanium 2 systems before the end of the year. Hewlett-Packard has given the chip its full support. HP co-developed Itanium with Intel, and will eventually offer the chip in its high-end Unix servers, replacing its ageing PA-Risc processor.

Other vendors seem less enthusiastic. IBM will sell Linux- and Windows-based xSeries servers using Itanium 2, but has shelved plans to use the chip in mid-range and high-end Unix servers. Sun has dropped plans to offer a version of its Solaris operating system for the new chip, and Dell has not yet announced Itanium 2 systems.

Data warehouse vendor Teradata uses multiple Intel-based server nodes to build its systems. Current nodes use dual 1.4GHz Pentium III chips and a maximum of 4GB RAM; 512 nodes can be linked to provide a total system memory of 2TB.

Rusty Warner, marketing director at Teradata, said, "Given the clock speed difference between Itanium and Xeon systems, we expect to see better performance and certainly better price/performance using 32bit chips in 2003. We will continue to introduce 32bit systems in 2004, and possibly until 2005. It remains to be seen how much the new 64bit instruction set will benefit our applications."

An IT manager responsible for a 1TB data warehouse said his current servers did not need to be replaced. "We don't care whether a chip is 64bit or not; we care about system performance," he added.

Benchmarks show Pentium 4 outpaces Itanium 2 running integer-based programs like those used in transactional databases.

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