Intel plays down its 64bit blunder

So the rumours proved to be true - Intel has added 64bit memory extensions to its Xeon line of x86 chips. For the record, the 64bit support is actually present in all the Prescott line of processors, but is disabled in the chips that have been launched so far. Nonetheless, without access to larger amounts of memory, the Xeon line would soon have run out of steam.

The trouble is, there is very little software out there that actually requires all the power available from today's Pentium 4 and Xeon chips, particularly when they run at about 3.5GHz and eight or 16 of them are used in a mid-sized server. The only way to keep such servers busy is to partition them so they run multiple operating systems concurrently.

My home system has a 2.4GHz Pentium 4 and records an average processor utilisation of 0.07 percent. At that rate, it could run one thousand operating systems concurrently and it would still have 30 percent of the processor's power available in case one operating system suddenly became busy. But my server would run out of RAM by the time I had five or 10 virtual servers running. The situation would be even more ridiculous if my chip ran at 3.6GHz.

Of course, its latest move is very embarrassing for Intel, which has spent years saying the Itanium is ideal for all 64bit systems. It is also embarrassing because Intel invented the x86 instruction set, and until recently could have claimed with some justification to have driven all the significant developments to that technology. Last week's news shows that AMD is now driving the x86 technology. It was the first chipmaker to add 64bit address extensions to its x86-compatible chips, and AMD secured the support of Microsoft and the Linux community. Fortunately, Intel's implementation will be compatible with AMD's, so the same software should work on either brand of chip.

Intel tried hard to bury the latest news by surrounding it with stories of much less significance. It preceded the Xeon announcement with a story about high-speed optical components, and followed it with a story about a robot car designed to drive itself over a 100-mile course. But there was no hiding the excitement that the Xeon announcement generated among computer vendors and their customers.

Top executives from firms like IBM and Dell lined up to praise Intel for the move. They didn't mention the car or the optical stuff.

Above all, the news clarifies the position of Itanium and Xeon chips.

Itanium is a niche chip, and the Xeon is targeted at mainstream server systems. Both will have 64bit memory addressing, but Xeons are compatible with Windows and Linux software, and Itaniums are compatible with HP-UX.