Saturday, January 28, 2006 8:07:01 AM
By Stephen Shankland
Story last modified Thu Jan 26 13:44:00 PST 2006
SAN FRANCISCO--Intel, Hewlett-Packard and seven other server companies will spend $10 billion through 2010 to try to increase adoption of the Itanium processor.
The money is coming from Intel and HP--Itanium's co-developers and top backers--as well as from Unisys, Silicon Graphics Inc., NEC, Hitachi, Fujitsu, Fujitsu-Siemens and Groupe Bull. The companies said Thursday that they will spend the money on research and development, marketing, and work to help software companies support the high-end processor.
"Itanium has been taking share from both IBM power and Sun Sparc. We're on the right trajectory, but we want to go faster," Tom Kilroy, general manager of Intel's Digital Enterprise Group, said at a press event here. "The $10 billion investment is a statement that we want to accelerate as a unified body."
The companies are members of the Itanium Solutions Alliance, which includes Microsoft, Red Hat, Novell, Oracle and other software companies. The alliance also announced its Itanium Solutions Catalog, which describes various combinations of hardware and software for specific tasks.
In other news:
Surveying the mobile TV landscape
Photos: Computational couture
Google fixes China search bugs
Itanium, a high-end processor, was once expected to sweep the server world. But because of delays, initial performance issues and software incompatibilities, Intel has had major difficulties getting Itanium to catch on. Most recently, the first dual-core model, code-named Montecito, was delayed from 2005 until mid-2006.
Kilroy made it clear why Intel is pushing so hard to give Itanium a stronger future.
"This is a $140 billion opportunity on hardware. It's dwarfed by the opportunity in software and services on top of that," Kilroy said. "There's a reason there's $10 billion of investment in play."
SGI, a relatively small company that concentrates on the high-end technical computing systems, expects to benefit from the strength-in-numbers argument behind the alliance.
"The Itanium Solutions Alliance is useful for us," said Greg Estes, vice president of global marketing, in an interview. "If you're a company like ours, you try to stake out ground to be the high-performance player in the marketplace. If you can do that with a robust ecosystem underneath that, that doesn't feel esoteric--high-performance systems with something that feels like it has some weight on it so you're not just betting on SGI alone--that's a better story for customers."
Copyright ©1995-2006 CNET Networks, Inc. All rights reserved.
http://news.com.com/Allies+pledge+10+billion+to+boost+Itanium/2100-1006_3-6031773.html?tag=nefd.top
Recent CPMV News
- Form 10-Q - Quarterly report [Sections 13 or 15(d)] • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 08/14/2024 07:14:06 PM
- Form 8-K - Current report • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 07/25/2024 12:02:11 PM
- Form 8-K - Current report • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 05/31/2024 08:30:11 PM
- Form 8-K - Current report • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 05/21/2024 05:59:22 PM
- Form 10-Q - Quarterly report [Sections 13 or 15(d)] • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 05/14/2024 05:47:19 PM
- Form 10-Q - Quarterly report [Sections 13 or 15(d)] • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 11/02/2023 05:17:22 PM
ZenaTech, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZENA) Launchs IQ Nano Drone for Commercial Indoor Use • HALO • Oct 10, 2024 8:09 AM
CBD Life Sciences Inc. (CBDL) Targets Alibaba as the Next Retail Giant for Wholesale Expansion of Top-Selling CBD Products • CBDL • Oct 10, 2024 8:00 AM
Foremost Lithium Announces Option Agreement with Denison on 10 Uranium Projects Spanning over 330,000 Acres in the Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan • FAT • Oct 10, 2024 5:51 AM
Element79 Gold Corp. Reports Significant Progress in Community Relations and Development Efforts in Chachas, Peru • ELEM • Oct 9, 2024 10:30 AM
Unitronix Corp Launches Share Buyback Initiative • UTRX • Oct 9, 2024 9:10 AM
BASANITE INDUSTRIES, LLC RECEIVES U.S. PATENT FOR ITS BASAFLEX™ BASALT FIBER COMPOSITE REBAR AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING • BASA • Oct 9, 2024 7:30 AM