Converting the old code base to x86 can take time, and companies heavily tied to legacy software may be unwilling to go through the makeover, Gold said. The conversion also depends on the software design and process, Gold said.

Intel over time will need to facilitate code conversion, but in the short term it needs to protect Itanium customers from IBM, analysts said. IBM may take advantage of Itanium's uncertainty to shift customers to the recently announced Power7, which is faster and more scalable than Itanium, analysts said.