Intel’s new technology : The Itanium 2

Ravi Madapati 
Faculty Member
Icfai Knowledge Center

continued : Competition

Opterons were priced from $283 to $794, while prices of Itanium 2 processors ranges from $1,338 to $4,226.

"Right now we’re not seeing demand for 64-bit on the desktop. It’s cost-prohibitive. Users are getting the performance they need from 32-bit."

AMD has other reasons for optimism. Microsoft has committed itself to making a version of its Windows Server and Windows XP desktop software for the new AMD chips. The software giant believes that many of its customers were very interested in the AMD implementation. Microsoft has plans to start shipping a version of Windows for AMD’s 64-bit chips. When Microsoft ran applications written for 32-bit chips on an Opteron server loaded with the new Windows 64-bit operating system, the programs performed considerably better than on using 32-bit Windows. Microsoft’s new operating system allows any application to reach deeper into memory. It thought that programs written especially for 64 bits got further performance advantages. And it is not willing to place all its bets just on Itanium 2. Besides, AMD has been much faster in launching the consumer version of Opteron chips than Intel. The leading Linux software maker, Red Hat offered Linux for the Opteron. IBM created a compatible version of its heavy-duty DB2 database software. IBM also has customers who were already using the technology, in beta [test] form, and they were looking to go to deployment by early 2003.

A handful of specialized server makers, like Angstrom Microsystems has signed on to use Opteron, AMD has also sold Opteron-based evaluation units to customers such as the Hollywood special effects house Pixar Animation Studios (producers of the ‘’Toy Story’’ movies). With their ability to manage vast amounts of data, the Opteron-based systems could help Pixar produce its computer-generated movies faster and cheaper. However, till late 2002 the top-tier computer makers, such as Dell and HP had not announced plans to build Opteron-based machines. Intel believed that it has a significant competitive advantage due to its longstanding relationships with software and hardware makers.

Meanwhile, Sun is trying to open up its Solaris products to other architectures. Sun is looking at using Opterons in some of its blade servers[2] . The option would pit Opteron against Sun’s UltraSPARC processors, making them vulnerable to losses in sales and benchmarking criticisms. Still, Sun seemed confident that it could pull it off. Sun’s vice president John Loiacono said[3] :

“ Are we likely to use Opteron today? Yes”

At the end of 2002, Sun announced it would not support chips from Intel with the release of its Solaris 9 operating system this year. Sun also did not offer Solaris support for Itanium 2. Although Sun is once working on a version of Solaris that would run on Itanium, those efforts have ended. Both companies’ pointed fingers at each other for stopping the effort. Intel, meanwhile, has little chance of getting its Itanium 2 chips embedded with Solaris as Sun did give a port to Solaris with Itanium 2.

Dell has made its fortune using the Intel standard but that has been in the 32-bit world. In highend corporate hardware, Dell is not a significant player. Dell hoped that Itanium would click and Intel would supply it with sufficiently engineered complete systems so that it could move into the higher end of the market. It planned to ship a relatively simple Itanium 2 system in 2003. But Dell is not following its archrival HP and putting all its bets on Intel. It is also seriously looking at Opteron. According to Randy Groves, Dell’s chief technology officer:[4]

“What makes this different from past AMD discussions is that until now AMD’s value proposition has been Intel compatibility at a lower cost. Now it’s not a pricing discussion. This is something Intel doesn’t have.”

But Dell believes that AMD has to prove that Opteron performed and that it could make it consistently in volume. Though AMD is more popular with consumers rather than businesses, Dell believed that AMD could move into the business server segment at a future date.

Intel maintained that Itanium 2, unlike Opteron, is designed for the next 20 years. To generate demand, Intel is building what it called an “ecosystem” around the chip. In early 2003, IBM announced it would be sharing technology and manufacturing know-how with AMD creating the distinct possibility of AMD’s Opteron and Athlon 64 chips being manufactured in IBM’s plants. That could help IBM and make it harder for Intel to convince customers to give their existing software and move on to Itanium. If IBM helped Opteron, it could also force Intel’s hand and create an awkward choice for HP. Intel is widely believed to have a contingency plan in place: A 64-bit chip, reportedly called Yamhill, which featured the same Pentium compatibility as AMD’s Opteron. If Opteron took off, it is expected to be only a matter of time before Intel launched Yamhill. And the better Yamhill did, the less software writers would feel the need to write programs that run on Itanium.  

Launching Itanium 2

References

[1] Source: Boston Globe, 4/21/2003

[2] A single circuit board populated with components such as processors, memory, and network connections that are usually found on multiple boards. Server blades are designed to slide into existing servers. Server blades are more cost-efficient, smaller and consume less power than traditional box-based servers.

[3] Source: Sun to Use AMD in its Blade Servers, www.internews.com, February 24, 2003.

[4] Source: See This Chip? Fortune, February 3, 2003.

© Icfai Press. Global CEO • August 2003, All Rights Reserved.