Itanium vs Intel64

[idata]

We are going to be upgrading our ESX 3.5 servers to ESX 4. We're also going to be upgrading our hardware. I'd like to know if there is a significant difference in upgrading to Itanium vs Intel64 processors. Can the operating system take full advantage of 64 bit technology in the Intel 64 processors?

Thanks,

Scott

[JLodh]

Hi Scott,

You must already be knowing that that http://www.intel.com/products/processor/itanium/index.htm Intel Itanium architecture is different from Intel x86 architecture and even though Itanium remains in development and has reached a limited success in the niche of high end computing, it had been hoped to evolve into a replacement for lower end applications of the original http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86 x86 architecture.

One more interesting fact is that not every/all applications and OS works on IA-64 (Itanium) architecture and you might as well want to confirm this with VMWare if ESX 4 has been compiled to work on Itanium architecture.

As for the other family of server processors from Intel, the x86 based 64-bit Intel Xeon processors, I personally feel that it would be a lot easier and favorable for you to upgrade your existing hardware to Nehalem based Xeons processors since they not only support 64-Bit technology as their ancestors but also give you significant computing performance along with cut-down on your electricity costs and phenominal performance in virtualizion scenarios.

Most OSs' kernels today have been recompiled to support the latest Intel Nehalem architecture based 64-Bit Server/Desktop/Mobile CPUs and I would suggest that before you upgrade, you might want to scan the compatibility list for the OS.

Here is also a https://roianalyst.alinean.com/ent_02/AutoLogin.do?d=593411470991915416 VMWare TCO/ROI Calculator (you might already be aware of it)

Hope this helps. In case of any further queries, you are always welcome to contact us.

Thank you, have a nice day!

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Warm Regards,

Javed Lodhi

Intel Go Green, Save The Environment!