Posted on 07/09/2002 2:46:27 PM PDT by JameRetief
No systems spotted on the horizon
By : Tuesday 09 July 2002, 12:58
So where are they? Well, apart from the "New HP", which has embraced the announcement whole-heartedly and even produced a cheesy little a cartoon here on its corporate propaganda pages, (we don't recommend it) to herald the new age of IT2, other "partners" have been conspicuously quiet amidst the general hub-bub.
Intel said in its announcement yesterday that it had begun comercial shipments of the chip and that systems and software based on the new processors are expected to be available "beginning this quarter" -- ie. some time in the next three months -- hopefully.
So you can't buy 'em yet. And even at the NHP, you can't pre-order systems. You can buy servers based on Itanium1 (Merced) chips, but no Itanic number 2s. NHP says: "We have a wide range of systems available in a number of different configurations and different prices." But it doesn't seem to -- yet.
Other "partners" have vented a bit of hot air over the processor. SGI, for example, says, "SGI announces commitment to deliver Intel Itanium 2 processor-based sytems," but doesn't say when. IBM and NEC are maintaining a discrete silence on the matter. And Dell, as we reported here has backed off completely.
Intel's own 'availability page' contains a fantastic array of server vendors, and a single workstation vendor: NHP. See here.
So what gives, Intella? Why, if these guys -- and especially the newly sychophantic NHP -- have been working so closely with you in developing the chip, are they unable to deliver working systems when the chip ships?
Rubbing our crystal ball, we see emerging from the future mists a statement to the effect that such is the magnificent power and reliability of the Itanic platform, server makers are still a little dumbfounded as to how to make systems and support them in a manner that matches the remarkable superiority of the platform. Or something.
In a not entirely unrelated matter, we are also reliably informed that reports indicate that HP's zx1 chipset and HP's compiler both deliver 10-20 per cent more performance than Intel's own chipset. And currently, HP's compiler is not marketed except on HP's own operating systems. µ
Intel: up to date desktop, server, mobile roadmaps
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