Intel: Next Itanium to run at 1.5GHz

Intel's next Itanium processor is likely to run at 1.5GHz, a 50 per cent increase on its predecessor and an indication the company is getting better at meeting development goals for its high-end chip family.

The new chip, code-named Madison, is similar to its Itanium 2 "McKinley" predecessor but is built with smaller circuitry that permits faster processing and more built-in high-speed "cache" memory. Intel disclosed the 1.5GHz speed in an agenda for a February processor show, the International Solid-State Circuits Conference.

"This is a demonstration that Intel is continuing to execute with precision, which is good," and very much a turnaround from the first-generation "Merced" version of Itanium, said Nathan Brookwood, an Insight64 analyst. "The Merced programme was plagued with a variety of gremlins, but the McKinley and Madison programmes have executed pretty smoothly."

Intel's ability to crank out new, faster versions of Itanium each year is a key part of its argument that it can use its manufacturing expertise to take on IBM, Sun Microsystems and Advanced Micro Devices, each of which have their own server processors. Intel must meet a higher standard for Itanium to catch on because adopting the new chip requires companies to completely rewrite their software.

"That's a pretty furious pace in the server business - a new part every year. It's much faster than what the other vendors are doing," said Kevin Krewell, managing editor of the Microprocessor Report.

Improving technology is critical for Intel, but it's not the only requirement for the ultimate success of Itanium. It will take years to develop all the necessary software for the Itanium line, which uses completely different instructions than Intel's Pentium family; the first major server version of Windows for Itanium is scheduled to arrive in April 2003. Some analysts expect Intel server sales to lag competing designs through at least 2007, while others expect Itanium chips will only start shipping in volume with Madison.

Stephen Shankland writes for News.com