Microsoft Plans New Windows Chip

The Microsoft Corp.’s special Windows version is expected next year, but in the beginning it won’t run on Intel’s most powerful server chip.

The software giant says Windows Server 2003 Compute Cluster Edition will not run on servers built around the Itanium 2 chip from Intel, CNET.com reported.

Instead, the software — a version of the company’s flagship operating system for clusters containing up to 128 processors — will run on 32-bit/64-bit server chips from Advanced Micro Devices and Intel.

The decision not to support Itanium 2 is the latest setback for Intel. Last month, Hewlett-Packard terminated its line of Itanium 2 workstations.

Itanium 2 chips provide fairly substantial performance gains, and the chip is building momentum among heavy-duty computer users.

In the most recent list of the top 500 supercomputers, the number of Itanium-based systems grew from 61 to 87.

However, since Itanium 2 systems require their own special software, mass corporate adoption has been slow.

A Microsoft spokeswoman said the version of the system coming next year is only the first version and Microsoft is strongly considering supporting Itanium 2 in subsequent version .