Abstract

Intel's Itanium processors were 64-bit chips, specifically designed for high-end enterprise and high-performance applications. The Itanium 2 processor was the second in the Itanium processor family. Intel faced major challenges in gaining acceptance for Itanium. Intel had put tremendous amounts of energy and money behind Itanium. Intel's IA-64 fund, started by Intel for encouraging the use of Intel architecture, had invested heavily in start-ups to assist them in developing Itanium-based applications, and worked extensively with established hardware and software manufacturers to get them involved in Itanium-based projects. Would Itanium 2 also share the same fate as Itanium 1 or would the tech world embrace this new processor? The case illustrates the challenges involved in gaining market acceptance for a new technology.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

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Keywords

64-bit computing, Itanium 2, Microprocessor, AMD, Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Explicitly Parallel Instruction Computing architecture, EPIC, Intel, Processor, Itanium 1, 1 Gigahertz, Craig Barrett, IBM, Sun Microsystems, EPIC design, Chip, Pentium