The new Itanium-based computers will only run operating systems that were specifically written for the 64-bit architecture. However, the systems will be backward-compatible to run current 32-bit software applications.
The new Itanium-based computers will only run operating systems that were
specifically written for the 64-bit architecture. However, the systems will
be backward-compatible to run current 32-bit software applications. But
to get the performance benefits of Itanium, the applications will have to
be re- compiled for the 64-bit architecture.
Here is a sample of companies that are developing 64-bit software:
Operating Systems
n Microsoft Corp.'s 64-bit Windows.
n IBM Corp. and The Santa Cruz Operation Inc.'s Monterey/64 Unix
OS.
n IA-64 Linux from Caldera Systems Inc., Red Hat Inc., SuSE Inc. and
others.
n Novell Inc.'s Modesto network services.
n Hewlett-Packard Co.'s HP-UX Unix software.
Applications
n Oracle Corp.'s database and application suites.
n SAP AG's mySAP.com ERP software.
n BMC Software Inc.'s enterprise management software.
n Computer Associates International Inc.'s Unicenter TNG.
n Veritas Software Corp.'s storage management solutions.
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