Unix powerhouses SCO and Caldera today announced a preview of AIX 5L version 5.1, the 64bit Unix operating system for Intel's Itanium processor.

The operating system is the offspring of Project Monterey, which saw SCO and IBM team up to develop the next generation of Unix systems on a 64bit platform.

AIX 5L boasts a Linux affinity, allowing Linux applications to run and thereby gain a foothold in the web sever market. AIX 5L also enables administrators to manage a range of environments, from workgroup servers to enterprise data centre servers, from a single source tree simply by recompiling.

Victor Krutul, operating systems and application server manager for Intel, blew the company trumpet for Itanium as well as welcoming AIX 5L: "The Intel Itanium processor was designed to address the requirements of high-end servers and workstations. AIX 5L provides a 64bit Unix OS that has the ability to fully utilise the advanced capabilities of Itanium architecture," he said.

Ransom Love, president and chief executive of Caldera, added that companies needed to recognise "the importance of a stable 64bit OS as the backbone supporting mission-critical business applications on Intel platforms".

He also said the developments would give the Linux platform a further leg up in the enterprise market.

As the OS is currently in preview mode, AIX 5L licences will be free of charge but will not include support. SCO and Caldera said that pricing and support would be determined at the time of the full release. AS AIX 5L is built for the Itanium platform, it will be limited to customers with Itanium-based systems.