Microsoft Ends Support for Intel's Itanium Chip

Strategic Insights -

Microsoft has announced that it will end support for Intel's Itanium chip in their server software, citing the natural evolution of the x86 64-bit architecture and the advancements made by Intel and AMD in their latest high-end server chips. With the release of new high-core-count processors and servers with eight or more x64 processors, Microsoft believes that the Itanium architecture has become superfluous. The transition will take eight years, and the current products, including Windows Server 2008 R2, SQL Server 2008 R2, and Visual Studio 2010, will be the last to support Itanium.

Key Takeaways:

  • Microsoft will end support for Intel's Itanium chip in their server software, citing the advancements in x86 64-bit architecture and the release of new high-core-count processors.
  • The current products, including Windows Server 2008 R2, SQL Server 2008 R2, and Visual Studio 2010, will be the last to support Itanium.
  • The transition will take eight years, with Microsoft continuing to support Itanium-based systems until July 10, 2018.
  • Intel officials have sounded skeptical about Itanium's long-term viability, with the company presenting a roadmap for Itanium looking several generations down the road.
  • The Xeon 7500 series "Nehalem EX" processors, released on March 30, have raised questions about the future of the Itanium architecture.
  • Microsoft will focus on the x64 architecture and its new business-critical role, while continuing to support Itanium customers for the next eight years.

Statistics:

  • 8: The number of years Microsoft will continue to support Itanium-based systems.
  • 2013: The year in which Microsoft will end support for Itanium-based systems and R2 on July 9.
  • 2018: The year when extended support for Itanium-based systems will continue until July 10.
  • 12: The number of server manufacturers that have announced servers with eight or more x64 processors.
  • 64-96: The number of processor cores in servers with eight or more x64 processors.

Sources:

  • Windows Server Blog, April 2: "Why we're ending support for Itanium-based systems" - [1]
  • Euclid Infotech, 2010: "Microsoft ends support for Intel's Itanium chip" - [2]