Filed at 5:41 p.m. ET
By Reuters
ORLANDO, Fla. (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O) Chairman Bill Gates will announce on Wednesday a preview release of its Windows operating system that will run on Intel Corp.'s (INTC.O) forthcoming Itanium microprocessor, the two companies said.
The Itanium chip is important for Intel, because it is its first foray into 64-bit chips, which handle data in 64-bit increments instead of today's 32-bit chips. All of the chip giant's current chips are now 32-bit microprocessors and include its Celeron, Pentium III and Xeon brands.
The Itanium chip, previously code-named Merced, has been delayed once. Originally slated for release in the first half 2000, Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel said in 1998 that it would be delayed until the second half of that year. It is now slated for volume production in the third quarter.
Intel and Hewlett-Packard Co. (HWP.N), the world's No. 2 computer maker, have been developing the heavy-duty microprocessor, which d will be used in the most powerful and advanced computer servers and workstations. It will compete against chips and computers made by rival Sun Microsystems Inc (SUNW.O), International Business Machines Corp. (IBM.N) and others, including H-P.
The announcement by Microsoft on Wednesday should give Itanium a boost as it gets closer to production. For Intel's Itanium chip to take off, it needs to run on a variety of popular operating systems used in large computer networks, such as Windows, Sun's Solaris and others.
However, analysts have said they don't expect the Itanium chip to be a big part of Intel's overall sales for some time. |
