ZDNet UK: Red Hat Eyes 32-Bit Itanium Software

“Leading Linux seller Red Hat is considering using an Intel
technology that improves the ability of the chipmaker’s Itanium
processor to run older software written for Xeon or Pentium
chips.

“The software, called the IA-32 Execution Layer, lets the new
64-bit Itanium processor emulate the two older 32-bit processors’
workings. Intel says the technique is faster than the current,
little-used approach of sluggish special-purpose circuitry in
Itanium, endowing the forthcoming 1.5GHz Itanium 2 6M to run 32-bit
software with about the speed of a 1.5GHz Xeon MP.

“‘Thirty-two bit support across 64-bit systems is important to
Red Hat customers, and we are exploring ways to address this across
the various architectures we support,’ Brian Stevens, vice
president of operating system development, said in a statement on
Friday…”

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