Oracle Quits Software Development for Intel's Itanium Processor

The Intel (News - Alert) Itanium microprocessor, on which Intel and H-P worked together to develop in the 1990s but was later developed solely by Intel, is “nearing the end of its life,” according to Oracle (News - Alert). In a press release late yesterday Oracle made this proclamation when it announced that it will stop writing software for the Itanium processor.

Oracle said it is not alone in its decision to discontinue all software development for Itanium, citing the fact that Microsoft (News - Alert) and Red Hat have quit software development for Itanium already.

Oracle said that instead of focusing on Itanium, it believes “after multiple conversations with Intel senior management,” it is clear that Intel’s “strategic focus is on their x86 microprocessor.”

In a Wall Street Journal blog post today, Don Clark said that with this announcement, Oracle was taking a “potshot at its favorite target–Hewlett-Packard (News - Alert)–but Intel caught a ricochet.” H-P, Clark explained, based its high-end machines on Itanium and remains the key customer for the technology, which requires software makers to create separate versions of their products.

Oracle has developed Itanium versions of its products as well and said it will continue to keep supporting customers that use existing versions of its software for Itanium.

Neither H-P nor Intel reacted positively to the Oracle announcement.

An H-P executive vice president, Dave Donatelli, was quoted in the WJS blog post as saying, “We are shocked that Oracle would put enterprises and governments at risk while costing them hundreds of millions of dollars in lost productivity.”

Intel was no less pleased. Its chief executive issued a statement contradicting Oracle’s assessment of its focus on Itanium: “Intel’s work on Intel Itanium processors and platforms continues unabated with multiple generations of chips currently in development and on schedule,” The Wall Street Journal post said Otellini added that Intel remains “firmly committed” to its roadmap of future Itanium models.

Still, some argue that the writing is clearly on the wall if Itanium sales are any indication of its demise. According to the Wall Street Journal sales volume of Itanium is very low; stating that IDC estimates Intel shipped 125,000 Itaniums in 2010, versus 14.55 million Xeons. In addition to Xeon, Itanium also faces fierce competition from IBM’s (News - Alert) Power chip line and Oracle’s Sparc line.

Nevertheless, backing up its statement that its work on Itanium “continues unabated,” Intel says the next version of Itanium, code-named Poulson, will more than double the performance of the existing versions.

In other news, TMCnet reported that Zanett is now certified as an Oracle PartnerNetwork for Healthcare.