PORTLAND, Ore., May 5 /PRNewswire/ -- While independent analyst data confirm 2008 as a challenging year for the server market, Itanium-based systems showed remarkable resiliency in comparison to competitive platforms, with sales results illustrating the architecture's value for mission-critical computing applications. End-of-year reports released in the first quarter show Itanium-based systems steadily gaining global market share(1) as they outpaced their RISC-based rivals' growth in systems revenues and shipments(2). Year-over-year, Itanium-based system shipments increased 18 percent in 2008, while systems revenue eclipsed the $1 billion mark for the seventh straight quarter in fourth quarter 2008(1).

"While the server business is certainly mired in difficult times, the multifaceted community that surrounds Itanium-based systems has special cause for optimism," said Joan Jacobs, president and executive director of the Itanium Solutions Alliance. "Even as the performance and scalability of x86 architectures make great progress, the inherent strengths of Itanium-based technology will continue to prove irreplaceable for mission-critical enterprise workloads, including large-scale databases and data warehousing; for the inevitable migration away from costly mainframes; and for intensive applications that rely on parallel processing, large memories and complicated algorithms."

The Alliance's support for software development continues to bear fruit, with more than 14,000 applications now available for Itanium-based systems. Operating system vendors have further validated Itanium's strength in mission-critical enterprise environments, exemplified by the recent launch of Novell SLES 11, the company's enterprise-ready Linux operating system, with a version for Itanium. Moreover, the upcoming release of Windows Server 2008 R2 includes dedicated features for high-powered Itanium-based systems users.

"The Itanium architecture scales very well for mission-critical Windows Server deployments, and we've seen a great reception for our SQL Server and Windows Server products on Itanium-based hardware from enterprise customers across a range of industries and workloads," said Eric Jewett, Group Manager, Windows Server, at Microsoft Corp. "In fact, we see many users of Itanium-based systems calling upon SQL Server to improve their business intelligence processes, and specifying Windows Server as an ideal platform when migrating from the mainframe. Looking ahead to Windows Server 2008 R2 with scalability to 256 cores, as well as, our forthcoming SQL Server Kilimanjaro release, our plan is to continue to expand the boundaries of mission-critical Windows computing on Itanium-based servers."

Pursuing a goal of aligning its online resources with the needs of its members and the broader community of Itanium-based systems users, the Alliance began in late 2008 a process of recasting its content with an emphasis on three key areas of strength for Itanium-based systems: data center modernization; mission-critical data; and computationally intensive applications. The newly revamped Alliance web site crosses a major milestone in that process, with content areas unveiled for each theme and new assets planned throughout the year. Also recently launched, the Alliance blog has quickly become a convergence point for news and opinions from vendors, developers and end users.

The same user-oriented approach has been taken with this year's Innovation Awards program, for which the categories have been redefined in line with the themes. In addition, the awards will again include the Humanitarian Impact category, which recognizes the innovative deployment of Itanium-based systems to deliver results that benefit humanity through research, social improvements or other humanitarian efforts. This category includes a $50,000 award to the winning institution.

About the Itanium Solutions Alliance

The Itanium(R) Solutions Alliance is a global community of hardware, operating system and application vendors dedicated to accelerating the adoption and ongoing development of Itanium(R)-based solutions. Formed in September 2005, the Alliance comprises some of the most influential companies in the computing industry with a shared, strategic commitment to delivering mission-critical computing solutions based on the Intel(R) Itanium(R) architecture. http://www.itaniumsolutions.org

(C) 2009. Intel and Itanium are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation. All other trademarks, trade names, service marks, and logos referenced herein belong to their respective companies.

(1) Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker, Q4 2008 (February 2009)

(2) Source: Gartner (March 2009)

SOURCE Itanium Solutions Alliance

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