Can Itanium go from zero to hero?

If Intel changed the name of the Itanium to the Chameleon, would its reputation among buyers and commentators change for the better? What sparked this odd train of thought was an announcement last week at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF). A new software tool from Transitive promises to let any Solaris-on-Sparc-based application run on an Itanium server without the need to actually port the software.

Pat Gelsinger, Intel’s server boss, was understandably keen at IDF to ensure that everyone knew about this capability, especially as he was able to claim that Itanium ran the applications faster than Sun’s own Sparc chips could.

The ability to run Solaris applications might greatly expand the Itanium’s market. Transitive’s tool could be a light at the end of the seemingly infinite dark tunnel along which Itanium has travelled to date.

If the chip was called Chameleon, to underscore that it can run not just Solaris apps but can also host OpenVMS and Tandem NonStop platforms natively, things might really change for the better. Buyers might perceive that it has a clearly defined role, beyond hosting legacy applications on geriatric operating systems.

Of course, just because an operating system is past its prime, does not mean it is useless – in fact the old timers can show the young bucks of the web services world a thing or two about how to run proper, big systems. NonStop is already showing real promise as a secure management environment for large web-based systems – not running the front-ends, but managing all the systems that are doing the coal-face tasks. And OpenVMS has a long and honourable track-record as a host environment for large and fast transaction management applications. These are just the characteristics that web-based businesses desperately need.

Don Jenkins, HP’s vice president of business-critical systems marketing, added a further ingredient to the mill: virtual appliances. Server virtualisation is already an important trend, especially when coupled to consolidated hardware in central datacentres and a move towards service-based delivery.

It is still a long-shot, but a single processor family that can run, chameleon-like, Unix, Linux, Windows, NonStop, OpenVMS and Solaris applications could well have something going for it. And if those applications and services are then available as virtual server appliances that are deployed and composed into service offerings by a comprehensive management system, there could suddenly be a good deal of flexibility available for users seeking ever-greater levels of business agility.