Intel Corp said yesterday that it has started shipping prototype workstations and servers based around Itanium 64-bit chips to hardware OEMs and operating systems vendors. The San Jose, California-based chipmaker said that it expects to ship hundreds of the prototype systems by the end of the year. The first prototype systems are going to companies such as Microsoft, IBM, Compaq and Sun.
The initial systems that Intel has issued are one to four processor servers and one to two chip graphics workstations intended to enable vendors to fine tune high-end hardware and operating system code. According to Intel spokesperson, Bill Kircos, the Itanium chips in the systems run at between 500MHz and 600MHz. They’re not final performance systems, he stressed. Intel has never officially said what clockspeed Itanium will run at when it is launched, but industry pundits expect that a chip running at between 733MHz and 1GHz will be the first release.
The initial Itanium silicon was unveiled at the Intel Developers Forum in late August. Kircos saidd that Intel is pleased with the speed at which the testing and debugging process has proceeded. Production Itanium chips are expected to be launched in mid-2000.