“Previously, if you wanted 64-bit computing power, you would
have had to choose one of the proprietary 64-bit platforms. Linux
does run on several of these but it is not the first choice for the
enterprise on these platforms. The Itanium is expected to change
all that and cement Linux’s position at the top-end of the
corporate segment….”
“The Itanium will give Linux a big boost and Linux in return
will compliment the Itanium. To fully derive the benefits of 64-bit
processors it is necessary to have 64-bit operating systems and
applications. Since there was already a 64-bit port of Linux
available for the Alpha platform, it wasn’t very difficult to port
Linux to another 64-bit platform. Linux was the first OS to boot on
this processor and major vendors, in porting Linux applications to
take advantage of the 64-bit processor, are doing a lot of work. A
lot of the enterprise features that were previously seen in
mainframe systems are now expected to be available on the Linux
platform.”
“Intel has also gone a step further and released the internal
working of the yet to be launched processor to the public. This is
a very significant development for the Linux community as the
kernel can be optimized to run very well on this processor. In fact
the Trillian Project is a co-operative development between
different vendors to create a unified version of Linux for the
Itanium processor. Their goal is to make the port available at the
same time that Intel launches the new processor. The project also
wants to ensure that existing 32-bit applications run seamlessly in
the 64-bit environment. A lot of code optimization is also being
carried out to ensure that Linux runs faster than other operating
systems.”