Intel sets Itanium free

Intel has finally released its 64bit Itanium chip after seven years of development.

The chip will start shipping in servers and workstations in June, with 25 partners releasing Itanium-based systems.

Intel's first stab at a 64bit architecture chip is now almost two years overdue. Itanium should allow the development of much faster computer systems, as 64bit chips can process larger chunks of information at any one time.

However, the first release only runs at half the speed of Intel's fastest 32bit processor.

Itanium will support four different operating systems - including both Windows and Linux. It is liable to run into competition from both AMD and Sun, who have their own 64bit chips.