Comments on: Dell shuttering Itanium server business

The writing was on the wall for Dell and Itanium once Intel started aiming the processor at large multiprocessor systems.

[bobby_brady]

The chip just wasn't meant to be

Can't blame Dell. Intel and HP had long delays with the chip from the start. Too much competition has kept the x86 alive and thriving.

[Maelstorm]

Why Itainium?

Why bother with the expense and hassle of a upgrade to Itainium when the x86 hardware works just fine? Problem here folks, is that the Itainium is a new hardware platform with not much software out there. And in the time of shrinking IT budgets, poor x86 emulation performance, and high cost, the Itainium never was a hit in the market place.

AMD on the otherhand made an excellent business decision with their Opteron chip by keeping with the x86 instruction set. So, not only can the Opteron run the new 64-bit software, it is also fully backwards compatible with all previous x86 software at full speed. Something that Intel seems to have forgot.

Sorry Intel, but if I have to spend many thousands of dollars to buy all new hardware and software just to have a 64-bit platform, I'm going to AMD because their solution is more cost effective.

[Maelstorm]

Itainium? Why bother?

Why bother with the expense and hassle of a upgrade to Itainium when the x86 hardware works just fine? Problem here folks, is that the Itainium is a new hardware platform with not much software out there. And in the time of shrinking IT budgets, poor x86 emulation performance, and high cost, the Itainium never was a hit in the market place.

AMD on the otherhand made an excellent business decision with their Opteron chip by keeping with the x86 instruction set. So, not only can the Opteron run the new 64-bit software, it is also fully backwards compatible with all previous x86 software at full speed. Something that Intel seems to have forgot.

Sorry Intel, but if I have to spend many thousands of dollars to buy all new hardware and software just to have a 64-bit platform, I'm going to AMD because their solution is more cost effective.

[Andrew J Glina]

True, but...

Intels solution is a big transition with a big payoff. AMDs solution is a small transition with a medium payoff and a permanent speed penalty. (All 64 bit instructions need a prefix instruction.)

Even so, I am surprised Dell held out this long.

[fred dunn]

Dell is not bowing to Intel pressure...Amazing!

Itanic is in the same catagory as the specialized CISC and RISC processors and as such only addresses a limited audience. So their competitors are SUN, IBM, and these companies have embedded audiences and are still struggling. What in the heck were Intel and HP thinking? Intel was thinking it as a next generation processor to kill off the x86 line and even killed their 32/64Bit processor project "since it wouldn't be needed after the launch of Itanic...WRONG. AMD put them back on course but behind the game.
But this revelation blows me away as the norm for Dell is "what ever you say Mr. Otellini", it's as if Dell is just a subsidary of Intel.

Bottom Line: Intel when are you going to cut your losses and give it up? Take the resources your are devoting to the Itanic and place them in developing better solutions to your current bottlenecks in the x86 area.

Fred Dunn

Intel should examine their development process

The statement that Dell's decision is "negligible" is probably going to haunt Intel for some time to come. The marketplace abandonment of the Itanium processor and Intel's apparent disregard for customer needs are indicators that something is very wrong with their product development process. The old adage "if we build it, they will come" isn't holding up anymore. Intel, and other companies who rely on past market dominance should not lose sight of "how" they develop their products.

[fred dunn]

Very Well Said...

Intel still thinks that what ever they have planned is what the consumer wants/needs. The falicy of this approach is that they do not bother to do any market analysis, rather they depend on "yes" men within.
But they have started to feel the pain as others prove their approach wrong and millions of research and development costs are wasted.

Fred Dunn