Indeed, one HP server customer, risk management organization Lloyd’s Register Group, is reconsidering a planned migration to Itanium-based servers as a result of concerns over the level of investment going into the processor.
The London-based company, which has a history in marine and shipping risk management but has expanded into areas such as rail, energy, and quality assurance risk management, is in the midst of a three-year server consolidation project to standardize on Windows.
As well as migrating its existing Windows NT, HP-UX, and Linux operating system-based applications to Windows Server 2003 as they come up for renewal, Lloyd’s had also intended to standardize on Itanium-based servers as its hardware needed upgrading. But it is now having second thoughts, according to group IT director, Stephen Hand. We had decided to go with Itanium, but we are not happy with the way that’s going, not happy with the investment, he said. We are considering our options. The initial plan was to move to Itanium from PA-RISC at end of life, now we’re reconsidering.
Once heralded as the future enterprise server processor, Itanium has had a bumpy ride since it was designed via a joint development partnership between Intel and HP, with disappointing initial performance levels and backwards compatibility problems prompting the rise of hybrid x86-64 technologies from Advanced Micro Devices, and eventually Intel itself.
At the recent launch of its Windows Server 2003 x64 Editions for the latter processors, Microsoft said it was really the beginning of the 64-bit Intel market, and that the adoption of x86-64 software would provide a migration path that would eventually lead to Itanium fulfilling its potential.
While HP is convinced that Itanium is the future, and Microsoft is encouraged, Lloyd’s Register is not the only company to have some doubts. Dell chairman, Michael Dell recently pooh-poohed Microsoft’s theory. If I talked for three hours about what’s important to our business I don’t think I’d ever mention Itanium, he said.
