Intel released a new suite of developers’ tools it
hopes will increase the amount of people using its 64-bit technology.
But while the Santa Clara, Calif.-based chip making giant regularly
supplies its developers with compilers, libraries and analyzers, Intel is
taking it one step further by making its testing software compatible with
other backwards-compatible chips made by rivals like AMD ,
the company said Monday.
“We have been developing our 64-bit strategy for some time, starting with
our expertise with Itanium. We have a lot of experience in compilers and
testing tools,” James Reinders, director of marketing, Intel Software
Products Division, told internetnews.com. “This new batch of tools
helps customers make the choice to take the leap from 32-bit apps to 64-bit.”
Reinders said the fight basically comes down to AMD’s Opteron processor
and Intel’s 90-nanometer Xeon processor that debuted earlier this year,
code-named Nocona. OEMs have been sizing the two processors against each
other, with Sun in the AMD camp, Dell on Intel’s side and HP in the middle.
Reinders said Intel actually has the advantage, despite public perception at
the time that Intel was playing catch-up with the great x86 64-bit
migration.
“I haven’t run into any customers that think we are playing catch-up. In
fact, we have an edge, being the volume sales leader,” he said.
Intel may extend that lead, as blade servers
on a revised Nocona core are expected to debut in November.
The tool sets are based on a combination of Itanium and Pentium sources.
For example, Intel’s generic optimizations have their roots in Itanium,
while the code generator had its beginnings in Pentium, Reinders said. A
limited amount of the compilers are still written in Assembly language
Intel also included additional new features in version 8.1 of its
compilers. Intel’s C++ Compiler for Linux, version 8.1,
includes the Eclipse integrated development environment (IDE) and the C
Developers Toolkit for use with the Intel 32-bit C++ compiler. Intel said it
also enhanced the Intel Code Coverage Tool and Intel Test Prioritization
Tool to speed application testing. The Compilers were improved to help
developers build multi-threaded applications that take advantage of
Hyper-Threading Technology.
With all of the enhancements to Intel’s testing platforms, developers
should be churning out new applications on an hourly basis, but that is not
the case, according to Reinders. The biggest holdup is the operating system —
in this case, Microsoft Windows “Longhorn,” which is not due until 2006.
Other system platforms by companies like Oracle and SAP are available in
their x86 64-bit state, but Reinders said Microsoft is key to the ecosystem.
“The first and most important item is to have stable tools ready with
support,” Reinders said. “The next has to be operating systems that are
mature. It is a matter of time. This is something we’ve gone through with
Itanium, and we are going to go through the same thing for EM64T products. We
will wait and watch the ecosystem develop, yet we will prime the pump with
chips like [Xeon] Nocona, which we see as a big motivator.”
In addition to its advanced software tools, Intel is doing outreach
and EM64T evangelism through Intel Solution Services, where the chipmaker’s consultants work side-by-side with developers.
