Intel set to enter the 64-bit era

Intel is holding its biannual developer conference this week at which industry watchers are expecting to receive the first information about the company's schedule for development in the 64-bit sector.

Intel's Itanium processor, which is being jointly developed with HP, will be the manufacturer's first 64-bit processor and will be released for sale in June. However, experts predict that only the second generation of Intel's 64-bit processors will perform significantly better than the current 32-bit chips. A second-generation 64-bit chip is already being developed under the code name McKinley, details of which Intel is expected to present at the developer conference. However, this processor will, at the earliest, be ready for release onto the market in a year's time. By Christoph Hammerschmidt