Microsoft Calls it Quits on Intel Itanium Support

Days after Intel and Advanced Micro Devices launched new high-end x86 chips that drive the architecture higher up the server chain, Microsoft officials announced they are ending support for Intel’s Itanium chip in their server software. In an April 2 post on the Windows Server blog, Dan Reger, a Microsoft senior technical product manager, said […]

Written By: Jeffrey Burt
Apr 6, 2010
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Days after Intel and Advanced Micro Devices launched new high-end x86 chips that drive the architecture higher up the server chain, Microsoft officials announced they are ending support for Intel’s Itanium chip in their server software.

In an April 2 post on the Windows Server blog, Dan Reger, a Microsoft senior technical product manager, said the capabilities Intel and AMD put into their latest high-end server chips—and OEM interest in putting these processors in four- and eight-socket servers—essentially have made the Itanium architecture superfluous.

"Why the change? The natural evolution of the x86 64-bit (‘x64’) architecture has led to the creation of processors and servers which deliver the scalability and reliability needed for today’s ‘mission-critical’ workloads,’" Reger wrote. "Just this week, both Intel and AMD have released new high core-count processors, and servers with eight or more x64 processors have now been announced by a full dozen server manufacturers. Such servers contain 64 to 96 processor cores, with more on the horizon."

>>Read the full story at eWEEK.com

thumbnail 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.

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