It’s really what we believe to be the future of the company, the future of the industry. 64-bit holds a lot of promise, said Clyde Rodriquez, Microsoft group program manager. We believe that with the introduction of x64, this is truly the beginning of 64-bit computing.
Microsoft has offered a 64-bit version of Windows Server 2003 for Intel’s pure 64-bit Itanium processors since 2003, but with the delivery of Windows Server 2003 x64 Editions and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition is providing support for backwardly compatible 64-bit processors from Intel and AMD for the first time.
Itanium is the best technology if you need industry standard servers and high performance, but does not get the volume market, said Mauro Meanti, general manager of Microsoft’s server and tools business group, EMEA.
It’s really to make sure we meet the mainstream market as well that we release Windows Server 2003 x64 editions, added Lars Mikaelsson, Microsoft 64-but business development manager.
Microsoft believes that x64 systems, which enable users to run existing 32-bit applications, provide an important migration path to 64-bit, and will quickly become ubiquitous. x64 is going to very quickly become the mainstream, said Mikaelsson. By the end of this year it will be very difficult to buy a server that is purely 32-bit.
The company is also predicting significant performance gains, even just from 32-bit applications taking advantage of 64-bit memory addressing. 64-bit is going to free developers and customers and enable them to do so much more, said Rodriquez.
The introduction of Windows Server 2003 x64 increases the physical memory of Standard Edition from 4GB to 32GB, and both the Enterprise and Datacenter Editions from 64GB to 1TB. It also increases the scalability of Datacenter Edition from 32-way to 64-way.
Windows XP Professional x64 also has a physical memory enhancement up to 4GB for 32-bit processes and 32GB for 64-bit processes, and is based on the same code base as Windows Server 2003. This means that new service packs released for the 32-bit Windows XP Pro will not run on the x64 version.
Separate service packs will be available for the x64 version, however, while another difference will be that Windows XP Pro x64 will not be available in retail stores but only through the OEM and system builder channels, ensuring that the all important 64-bit native drivers are available to users. We want to ensure there’s a good a good experience in terms of driver availability, said Rodriquez, adding that the operating system ships with over 15,000 drivers in the box.
There will not be a Web Edition of Windows Server 2003 x64, but as previously reported there will be a new version aimed at computational clusters. Windows Server 2003 Compute Cluster Edition will go into beta this year and be delivered in the first half of 2006. It will only be available in a 64-bit version, and only for x86-64 processors.
Microsoft also announced that it will be running an exchange program for customers that have acquired PCs and servers with x86-64 processors and 32-bit Windows between March and the end of June. Individuals will have until July 30 to take advantage of the opportunity to swap out their 32-bit Windows software for x64 versions, while volume licensees will be able to do so at any time.
The program is part of Microsoft’s mission to establish the foundation for 64-bit computing being everywhere, according to Meanti. We want to make sure 64-bit becomes the new architecture on everybody’s desk and in every data center, he added.
The company is aware that this will take some time to build up a head of steam, however. In the early stages x64 is going to lay the foundations for early developers but by the Longhorn [server] stage, we will see mainstream adoption, added Rodriquez. All the adoption isn’t going to happen overnight, but the evolution starts now.
For more on Longhorn server and Microsoft’s release roadmap for the next two years, see Microsoft Maps Route to Longhorn Server in this issue of ComputerWire Computergram.
