In the 64-bit space, Intel Corp. may have been plagued with slipping delivery dates and a dearth of hardware. But Intel (intc) can claim at least one major advantage over rival AMD: a plethora of operating system partners supporting its 64-bit efforts.
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (amd) on Thursday released to developers its initial software design guide for its 64-bit processor, x86-64, known by the interchangeable code names of "Sledgehammer" and "Hammer."
Despite enthusiasm from consumers for the next-generation AMD chip, the Sledgehammer announcement was greeted rather coolly by operating system makers. AMD has provided some operating system companies and leaders, such as Microsoft Corp. (msft), Sun Microsystems Inc. (sunw) and Linux creator Linus Torvalds with copies of the guide. (AMD also made the guide available on the Web.) But, surprisingly, the only company to lend its official backing to Sledgehammer so far is Sun.
While Sledgehammer is designed to allow for 100 percent backwards compatibility, in terms of being able to run 32-bit operating systems and applications, none of the software vendors who is developing 64-bit IA-64 operating systems has announced plans to build 64-bit Sledgehammer-optimized ones. It is highly unlikely that the Itanium operating systems will run on Sledgehammer, as Intel is introducing a new instruction set for IA-64. Yet without a native 64-bit operating system, customers won't be able to derive the full performance benefits of IA-64 or Sledgehammer.
Solaris vice president Anil Gadre contributed a quote to AMD's official Sledgehammer press release, saying, "Sun Microsystems' Solaris team is very excited about AMD's x86-64 (Sledgehammer) technology. We applaud AMD's ISV compatibility and upgrade strategy as well as their open technology announcement today. We will be following their progress closely as this technology comes to market."
Sun also has said it will support Solaris on Intel's IA-64 bit processor. But Intel officials have been openly critical of what they claim is Sun's half-hearted backing of IA-64, a battle some industry watchers chalk up to the ongoing rivalry between Intel and Sun in the chip space.
"There are definitely discussions going on between Sun and AMD," said Sun spokesman Russ Castronovo. "Their approach in working with third-party companies is far better than Intel's."
Would Sun be likely to drop work on IA-64 in favor of a Solaris Sledgehammer strategy? Probably not, said Castronovo. "We are already Itanium-ready. We've been saying that since the launch of Solaris 8. We have lots of customers who want Solaris on IA-64. The trick has been getting the hardware, which has slipped again."
Microsoft, like Sun, has said it will be ready to ship a version of Windows 2000 optimized for IA-64 as soon as Intel rolls out the processor. But Redmond wouldn't talk about its plans for supporting Sledgehammer.
"Microsoft is aware of what AMD is doing. We provided some feedback to AMD on its specs," said a company spokeswoman. She added that Microsoft had no further comment, and said she didn't know when or if Microsoft would lend its official support to AMD's Sledgehammer effort.
IBM, which has been working to support IA-64 on a couple of different fronts, also had nothing to say, in terms of official plans to support Sledgehammer. IBM has been working on a version of AIX that supports IA-64 as well as its forthcoming 64-bit Power4 chip, both. Via Project Monterey, IBM is slated to release commercially next month a version of AIX, AIX 5L version 5.0, that will run on both the IA-64 Power4 architectures. IBM also is part of The IA-64 Linux Project (formerly named the Trillian Project), an open-source effort to port Linux to the IA-64 architecture.
IBM officials said on Wednesday that they would evaluate adding support to the company's AIX operating system. However, they added that no decisions had been made yet.
AMD said it was working with "lots" of open-source players interested in Sledgehammer. But, again, as of Thursday, AMD had no Linux vendors to cite as official supporters of its 64-bit chip.
