Dell Unveils First Itanium System

Dell Computer is the first computer maker to unveil production models of servers that use Intel's long-awaited 64-bit Itanium chip. Dell's new PowerEdge 7150, slated for broad availability later this year, can accommodate up to four of the chips, which employ several performance-boosting features not found on Intel's 32-bit Pentium III Xeon server chips.

Beyond its 64-bit architecture, Itanium uses a new computing architecture known as Epic--developed by Intel and Hewlett Packard--that enhances the chip's ability to process parallel data streams. It can also address up to a whopping 64 Gbytes of memory. Dell officials say those features make the PowerEdge 7150 ideal for heavy-duty tasks such as database serving and secure transaction processing. "We think this takes the Intel architecture to an entirely new level," says Gene Austin, VP for worldwide marketing in Dell's Enterprise Systems Group. Intel, along with partners such as Dell, is pushing Itanium-based systems as a high-performance, low-cost alternative to expensive Unix systems such as those manufactured by Sun Microsystems. Dell hasn't yet revealed pricing for the PowerEdge 7150, but company officials say it will likely fall somewhere between current pricing on its four-way and eight-way Pentium III Xeon systems. More computer makers are expected to unveil Itanium-based systems in the coming weeks.

However, early adopters may have trouble actually using Itanium systems. Although Intel is more than a year late to market with the chip, broad support from major software vendors isn't yet in place. Most significantly, Microsoft hasn't released a full beta version of its forthcoming 64-bit operating system, meaning users could have difficulty testing and implementing pilot systems. "The software infrastructure needs to be in place before Itanium can really take off," says Brooks Gray, a Technology Business Research analyst. Next year, Intel plans to release a faster, more powerful follow-up to Itanium known as McKinley.