Dual-core Itanium debuts

By Jennifer Mears, NetworkWorld.com, 07/18/06

After repeated delays, Intel finally has begun shipping its dual-core Itanium processor, code-named Montecito. As one analyst put it, the release “almost makes [Itanium] competitive with some of the other chips that have been out there for a year or two.” In Intel’s defense, the chip does have quite a few strong features – it’s more powerful, more energy efficient and there are a growing number of applications tuned to the platform.

It will be interesting to see how the market responds. A handful of systems vendors -- including Itanium co-designer HP -- plan to roll out Montecito-based systems in coming weeks.

Intel does have some big name customers running Itanium systems. IT executives from British Petroleum, DuPont and Toyota Motorsports were on hand at the Itanium launch event in San Francisco on Tuesday to talk up the virtues of Itanium.

The real benefit of Itanium, according to Intel Digital Enterprise Senior Vice President and General Manager Pat Gelsinger, is that it provides mainframe-class reliability in an industry standard package.

Get more details about Itanium here.

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