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HP Axes Itanium Workstations

Hewlett-Packard Co. is discontinuing its line of Itanium-based workstations, saying demand from its customers is for x86 systems powered by processors with 64-bit extensions. The Palo Alto, Calif., company is discontinuing its one-way zx2000 and two-way zx6000 workstations, which were introduced in May 2003 and run on Intel Corp.’s Itanium 2 64-bit processors. HP will […]

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Jeffrey Burt

Sep 24, 2004

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Hewlett-Packard Co. is discontinuing its line of Itanium-based workstations, saying demand from its customers is for x86 systems powered by processors with 64-bit extensions.

The Palo Alto, Calif., company is discontinuing its one-way zx2000 and two-way zx6000 workstations, which were introduced in May 2003 and run on Intel Corp.’s Itanium 2 64-bit processors. HP will support the workstations for the next five years, a spokesperson said.

Instead, development efforts will focus on the company’s line of workstations running Intel’s 32-bit Xeon processors, which were upgraded this summer to include the new Nocona chips. Those processors offer 64-bit extensions, which enable them to run 32-bit and 64-bit applications.

The spokesperson said the decision would have no impact on HP’s Integrity line of Itanium-based servers.

“In working with and listening to our high-performance workstation partners and customers, we have become aware that the focus in this arena is being driven toward 64-bit extension technology,” HP said in a prepared statement.

HP partnered with Intel, of Santa Clara, Calif., in developing Itanium, which offers a different architecture than the x86 processors, and is the top seller of Itanium-based systems. At one time, Intel officials said Itanium would become the standard for 64-bit computing.

However, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. last year rolled out its Opteron processors, which run both 32-bit and 64-bit software. Officials with AMD, of Sunnyvale, Calif., said users were looking for a simple migration path to 64-bit computing, rather than having to move to an entirely new architecture.

Click here to read about how the new processors have been a boon to workstations.

The popularity of Opteron sparked Intel in February to unveil its EM64T technology, which gave the same 64-bit extension capabilities to its Xeon chips as Opteron offers. Intel officials now say that the two lines of processors—x86 with EM64T and Itanium—are complementary, with Itanium in the high-end niche for RISC-replacement projects and the Xeons for volume space.

For its part, HP has moved to standardize its high-end servers—including its AlphaServers and PA-RISC systems—on Itanium. However, it is not only embracing the 64-bit extended Xeons in its Industry Standard Servers, but also rolling out a line of systems running Opteron.

Sun Microsystems Inc. also is using Opteron as its vehicle for competing in the x86 space, unveiling a line of servers and workstations starting in February. IBM also offers Opteron-based workstations and servers, though Dell Inc. has remained loyal to the Intel architecture.

Check out eWEEK.com’s Desktop & Notebook Center at http://desktop.eweek.com for the latest news in desktop and notebook computing.

Jeffrey Burt

Jeffrey Burt has been a journalist for more than three decades, the last 20-plus years covering technology. During more than 16 years with eWEEK, he covered everything from data center infrastructure and collaboration technology to AI, cloud, quantum computing and cybersecurity. A freelance journalist since 2017, his articles have appeared on such sites as eWEEK, eSecurity Planet, Enterprise Networking Planet, Enterprise Storage Forum, Channel Insider, The Next Platform, ITPro Today, Channel Futures, Channelnomics, SecurityNow, and Data Breach Today.

HP Axes Itanium Workstations

Jeffrey Burt

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