ZDNet UK / News and Analysis / Workspace IT / Processors

HP to double up Itanium chips

By Stephen Shankland, CNET News, 25 October, 2002 07:33

Daily Newsletters

Sign up to ZDNet UK's daily newsletter.

Topics

Intel, HP, Processor, Itanium, double

NEWS
Beginning in 2004, Hewlett-Packard will pair up future Itanium chips so that twice the number can be shoehorned into a computer. The plans, which apply to the next-generation "Madison" and "Montecito" models in Intel's Itanium chip line, illustrate that HP is able to expand on the basic processors that Intel offers, decreasing its reliance on the chipmaker. Processors are the single most important component of HP's future servers. HP chief technology officer Shane Robison discussed the products Wednesday at an analyst conference, arguing that the double-whammy chips will enable HP processors to leapfrog the performance of IBM's Power processor family. IBM's current Power4 processor was the first "dual-core" server chip, taking advantage of an approach in which two processors are etched into a single slice of silicon. HP, Intel and Sun Microsystems are pursuing their own dual-core chips, but HP wanted something that worked like an actual dual-core Itanium earlier than Intel plans to release one. HP plans to use this dual-chip packaging technology -- in which two separate processors share the same data pathway connecting them to the rest of a computer -- from low-end to high-end systems, said John Miller, director of HP server marketing. "We feel it's important to be in the marketplace with a dual-core implementation, even though it's not exactly that," Miller said. "Everybody in the industry is going to be there." Intel plans to make dual-core Itanium processors by "the middle of the decade", Mike Fister, general manager of Intel's Enterprise Platforms Group, said in September. Palo Alto, California-based HP developed the idea behind the Itanium processors, but Intel is taking the lead in the designing and building of the chips. HP has begun moving all its server lines to the Itanium family, and the double-chip packages will permit the company to offer more powerful servers, sooner. "What that gets them is the ability to take any platform they design and put twice as many processors in it as they otherwise would have been able to," said Insight 64 analyst Nathan Brookwood. "It's very impressive." Building extremely powerful Itanium servers sends a signal to prospective buyers that HP is serious about the product, but high-end Itanium servers aren't expected to be in widespread use anytime soon. The chips require software to be overhauled before it will work well on the new systems, and customers are conservative about making radical changes to servers that run critical tasks such as reconciling bank balances. HP's Unix servers currently use the company's own PA-RISC processors, but they are designed to accommodate Itanium processors as well. The company's high-end Superdome server now can accommodate 64 PA-RISC chips, but a version coming in 2003 with the new PA-RISC 8800 processors will use 128 of them. The double-Itanium plan will be the way HP builds 128-processor Itanium systems as well, Miller said. Intel said it will begin selling its "Madison" version of Itanium 2 next year, with "Montecito" scheduled to debut in 2004. In early 2004, HP plans to sell its "Madison Module", which pairs two Madison processors with some high-speed "cache" memory. The cache, which can supply information more quickly than the computer's main memory, compensates for the fact that two processors will be sharing one data pathway designed for a single chip. In late 2004, HP will begin selling a "Montecito Module" as well, applying the same technique to the next Madison successor. HP won't make the modules available to other companies building Itanium servers, Miller said. Current Itanium 2 "McKinley" processors, Madison and Montecito have the same connection technology and power requirements, allowing a computer with one to be upgraded with a newer model. To make HP's Madison and Montecito double-chip modules consume only as much power as a single chip, HP likely will throttle back the chips' clock speeds, Brookwood said.
See Chips Central for the latest headlines on processors and semiconductors. To find out more about the computers and hardware that these chips are being used in, see ZDNet UK's Hardware News Section. Have your say instantly, and see what others have said. Go to the Chips Central Forum. Let the Chips Central editor know what you think by email. And sign up for the weekly Chips Central newsletter.

Related stories

IBM Itanium 2 servers coming by early 2003

AMD looks to ARM itself for low-power tablets

Apple tops list of semiconductor buyers

Post your comment

In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.

You can also log in with Facebook. Log in or create your ZDNet UK account below

  • Login

Will not be displayed with your comment

By signing up for this service, you indicate that you agree to our Terms and Conditions and have read and understood our Privacy Policy. Questions about membership? Find the answers in the Community FAQ

Get ZDNet UK's daily newsletter

Enter your email address to sign up

ZDNet UK Live

GHar123

I totally dislike pirating of works, I fear that artists will be deterred from creating works if they think that they are going to get ripped off....

37 minutes ago by GHar123 on ACTA stumbles in Germany
JCB33

How dare film makers, artists or anybody that invests in creativity stop us pirating their works for free. I want to be able to walk into my local...

6 hours ago by JCB33 on ACTA stumbles in Germany
Moley

@GrueMaster. I prefer horses for courses rather than one size fits all. I, and I suspect most other computer users, do not really wish to have...

8 hours ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
greycynic

The product that scares me every time I have to use it is the Office 2007 version of Excel. The first bug that I found was applying the median...

9 hours ago by greycynic on Ten flawed products that derail productivity
GrueMaster

Nice review and very informative. One thing I'd like to add (in reply to whs001's 1st question), the main reason to have the same interface from...

10 hours ago by GrueMaster on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Frederick Wrigley

I'be been using Mint 12 since the RC came out, and I am far more happy with the Cinnamon, the Mate, and, yes (with extensions), theGnome 3...

11 hours ago by Frederick Wrigley via Facebook on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
bdantas

Excellent article. One small correction, though--although a fresh installation of Linux Mint 12 will, indeed, provide the user with a version of...

11 hours ago by bdantas on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Alan Ralph

In related news, the ISPs club together to get the members of the Home Affairs Select Committee (ya goofed on that part, ZDNet UK) copies of "The...

12 hours ago by Alan Ralph via Facebook on MPs urge ISPs to take down terrorist material
Alan Ralph

In related news, the ISPs club together to get the members of the Home Affairs Select Committee (ya goofed on that part, ZDNet UK) copies of "The...

12 hours ago by Alan Ralph via Facebook on MPs urge ISPs to take down terrorist material
Moley

For Gnome 2 die-hards, it is possible to add icons to the bottom panel (or top top panel, if you prefer) which provide the exact Gnome 2...

13 hours ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
ramwellian

Your comments would seem pretty naive and immature. Your 'solution' appears to be, "gee, let's all just give in to the hackers and give them...

13 hours ago by ramwellian on Cloud computing security: no more oxymoron?
BugStalker

"Interesting thought ... If you installed Win7 as a dual boot on a machine that previously only had Linux, and it wrecked your Linux installation,...

13 hours ago by BugStalker on Windows 7 Declares War on GRUB
whs001

This is an excellent summary of Ubuntu and Mint and the interface differences between them. Most such articles take a very partisan position for...

13 hours ago by whs001 on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Moley

@ewallace. Not so clear. Anyone can obtain the text, for example from here http://www.ustr.gov/webfm_send/2379. I support ACTA so long as it and...

14 hours ago by Moley on ACTA: Facts, misconceptions and questions
45283

I think WinRT is fantastic. I just wish it was an option for people that didn't want to go through Microsoft's App Store with its attendant...

17 hours ago by 45283 on Why Windows 8 needs architectural hygiene for WOA
Burn-IT

Nine people? £30m? Who's back pocket is that lot going in? And IF they say it is for new buildings, what about all the ones the government has...

18 hours ago by Burn-IT on Police set to launch three £30m e-crime hubs
ewallace

Just to be clear, nobody knows what is in the text of ACTA, here is a photograph of the text of ACTA http://twitpic.com/8h9iju as submitted to the...

18 hours ago by ewallace on ACTA: Facts, misconceptions and questions
fgvrg56

Unfortunately main issue is that ASUS is refusing to accept that they make some mistake on this version of asus Transformer prime. 1 - GPS sensor...

19 hours ago by fgvrg56 on Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime Wi-Fi & GPS problems?
Ben Woods

@Marcus A fair question. Just talked with Archos which said it was working on an announcement for next week....

20 hours ago by Ben Woods on Archos confirms G9 Ice Cream Sandwich update schedule
Marcus Karlsson

Any update on this, considering the claimed "first week of February"?

21 hours ago by Marcus Karlsson via Facebook on Archos confirms G9 Ice Cream Sandwich update schedule

Latest in Processors

AMD looks to ARM itself for low-power tablets

Apple tops list of semiconductor buyers

Featured white papers

Tech breakthroughs to watch in 2012

ZDNet UK

Tech breakthroughs to watch in 2012

From invisibility cloaks to virtual atom smashing, from Cern to Nasa, this ZDNet UK guide presents the discoveries to watch in... Read more

10 must-read silicon.com Cheat Sheets

silicon.com

10 must-read silicon.com Cheat Sheets

This exclusive e-book covers 10 of the most important issues facing business and technology professionals today, from cloud computing to... Read more

The virtual presenter's handbook

Citrix Online

The virtual presenter's handbook

Web seminars or webinars can be interactive and engaging, just like having every person in the same room, and this white paper outlines how they can benefit your... Read more

Inside ZDNet UK

A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

2012 Predictions: VCE FastPath, VI SAN Probe & Hadoop

2012 Predictions: VCE FastPath, VI SAN Probe & Hadoop

BlackBerry Bold 9790

BlackBerry Bold 9790

Case study: How cloud enables growth

Case study: How cloud enables growth

Ten factors that make Ubuntu 11.10 a hit

Ten factors that make Ubuntu 11.10 a hit

Toshiba Portégé Z830-10P Review

Toshiba Portégé Z830-10P Review

BT's archive: Pictures from the vault

BT's archive: Pictures from the vault