Oracle Rings Death Knell for Intel's Itanium
As far as Oracle sees it, Intel's Itanium architecture is yesterday's news. Such was the decision Oracle announced to discontinue all software development for Itanium processors, which Oracle says is in response to Intel's "clear strategic direction to focus on their x86 microprocessor." Oracle also pointed out that Itanium is nearling End-of-Life (EOL) anyway. But is it?
That's a line of bull, according to Intel, which told PCWorld that the chip maker "remains committed to Itanium." Meanwhile, Oracle claims to have had "multiple conversations with Intel senior management," which ultimately led to the decision to discontinue support.
Regardless of the whole he said/she said situation, Oracle is done with Itanium, though the company said it will continue to support popular server platforms like Intel x86-64 and Oracle SPARC architectures, as well as some others.