Intel Corp. last week officially announced its new "Irwindale" platform, which includes an updated 64-bit Xeon processor with 2MB of L2 cache.
This announcement comes months after the company"s main competitor, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), launched its 64-bit server platform, Opteron, and an array of 64-bit desktop processors in its Athlon range.
However, according to Frans Pienaar, Intel SA"s channel applications engineer, it is very important to note that the new 64-bit processors do not offer true 64-bit computing ability. "The new Xeon (and Opteron) platforms still run on IA32 architecture. But, because of 64-bit extensions such as EM64T on Intel processors, they can address more memory than traditional 32-bit processors," he says.
For example, Pienaar says that 32-bit processors, which meet the requirements of most client-based and front-end server applications, can address up to 4GB of memory. However, by adding 64-bit extensions to its processors, Intel is able to address 1 024GB (i.e. 1TB) of memory.
"So, IA32 platforms using 64-bit extensions can run 32-bit applications and allow for a higher amount of memory to be addressed, as is demanded by 64-bit applications such as Windows XP 64-bit edition," Pienaar adds.
The launch of 64-bit extensions, and particularly the new range of Xeon processors, has raised questions as to what Intel intends to do with its true 64-bit platform, Itanium.
These questions also come specifically after Intel"s number one Itanium customer, HP, decided to drop the Itanium processors in its high-performance workstations in favour of processors running EM64T, as reported by CSA last September.
In the report, HP SA product manager, Damien Durrant, said that this move by HP is based on decisions taken by many independent software vendors (ISVs).
"We have found that customer demand in the high-end performance workstation market is leaning towards the 64-bit extension x86 architecture, because ISVs are opting to port their new software and versions of software applications to IA 32-bit processors, such as Intel"s EM64T," he says.
Pienaar notes that there is a very different market for Itanium. "Typically, Itanium is suited for the very high-end, number crunching-type applications, which would require upwards of 1 024TB (1 petabyte - PB) of addressable memory," he says.
This is an arena typically dominated by Risc architecture, but recent performance and TCO figures for the true 64-bit x86 Itanium platform show that Risc may lose this battle, given that IDC predicts a growth in the Itanium market from $1bn in 2003 to $8bn in 2008. Forrester Research adds that the business case for 64-bit extensions is very compelling.
"Now businesses can deploy 32/64-bit applications with almost no cost penalty, which will allow them to gradually migrate to 64-bit through a three-phased approach, first from true 32-bit, to 32-bit applications under a 64-bit operating system, to true 64-bit environments with minimal risk and disruption," the research company notes.
It seems that the really interesting scraps are going to happen in the low-to-mid-end server space and the desktop space, where technologies such as EM64T and dual-core aim to increase platform performance, and give users more bang for their buck.