IBM preps Itanium workstation

Codename 'Rattler' - maybe they should tighten some screws

By Linda Harrison in New York • Get more from this author

Posted in Business, 6th December 2000 16:46 GMT

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IBM is already prepping its first Itanium workstation, and claims to have 209 applications certified to run on the system.

The system is code-named Rattler, according to a report by Infoworld, and is tipped to take pride of place at the top of Big Blue's Z-Pro workstation line. IBM execs expect it to ship the first day the Intel 64-bit chip is available - expected in Q1 of next year.

IBM also plans to make the system available with versions of Linux from Red Hat, Caldera Systems, Turbolinux and SuSE, and is meanwhile testing it with its former Monterey - now AIX 5L - operating system.

The company will try and sell the workstation for uses such as data warehousing and computer animation, and it is chuffed with the 209 applications it has certified and tested on the platform. IBM officials claimed this number was around four times that of its nearest rival.

"No one will throw their production environment on [Itanium] on day one. But it will be a great platform for people to get their feet wet in the environment, and position themselves for 64-bit computing environment," said Rick Rudd, product manager for the Intellestation Z-Pro workstation. ®