64-bit Intel Itanic still on course

A report on a Web site that Intel is having difficulty clocking its 64-bit microprocessor -- the Itanium -- at the speeds it would like, were rebutted by the chip company today.

According to a report which you can find here, Intel's production of the Itanium has slipped from Q3 to Q4 this year.

But that claim was denied by an Intel representative, who said: "There are 5,000 development systems out in the field, and the recent Microsoft-Intel announcement [about Win64] lends further
weight to OS support and progress.

"We expect production processor silicon in Q3'00, with system availability beginning in the second half of 2000."

Roadmaps The Register saw earlier this year indicated that Intel was delivering pricing on the processors to its OEMs today. Intel does change its mind about things, however.

Last month, in Stockholm, CEO Craig Barrett, Intel's supremo, said that Itanium (formerly codenamed Merced) was still on target.

We are now already in quarter three, so we expect that the next Intel Development Forum, held in San Jose in August, will be used as an occasion to spill further beans on the microprocessor's lengthy progress. ®

See Also

Gates previews Win64
Intel's cunning server plans
Itanium specs, prices revealed
Intel wants caviar, not cod roe, from IA-64