Dan, Re: Itanium IA-32 performance
If you really think that Itanium will be positioned to run IA-32 code, you're really more lost than I thought.
Itanium, for the next couple years at least, is being positioned for the enterprise server market, primarily the 4- and 8-way space used in back-end processing. These segments make use of database, security, and data transfer applications. SQL Server, Oracle, and others have already been fully ported to IA-64.
Other uses for IA-64 is for high end workstations, because of its massive floating point power. Expect 1- or 2-way Itanium workstations to be popular for rendering farms or scientific studies. Lightwave, SoftImage, Maya, and others have already been ported to IA-64. Many scientific applications have been built from the ground up for IA-64.
Admittedly, the uses for Itanium are small right now. With the performance of McKinley, things will grow and expand. With the lower power dissipation of Deerfield and the added cache of Madison, it will grow even still. More applications are being ported or created for IA-64. Just check out the press releases, and you'll soon see that no one would need to run an IA-32 app on their Itanium server (though at least the capability is there for anyone who absolutely requires it).
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