Microsoft Plans To Ship 64-Bit Windows Server In JulyMicrosoft Plans To Ship 64-Bit Windows Server In July

Microsoft says it will ship a special version of its 64-bit Windows operating system this summer to run early shipments of Itanium-chip-based server computers.

Intel is set to launch the Itanium, the first chip built on its new 64-bit architecture, May 29. PC makers expect to deliver the first Itanium machines this summer. Microsoft says it will ship a prerelease version of its next-generation Windows system designed to run those servers, most likely in July.

The software, called 64-Bit Windows Advanced Server Limited Edition, will support up to eight Itanium CPUs, and address up to 64 Gbytes of memory. The Itanium chip, based on Intel's IA-64 architecture, exponentially increases the amount of memory, size of integers, and decimal-place accuracy the computers running them are able to handle, compared with chips based on Intel's older x86 design.

Early systems running Itanium chips will target specific uses like large databases, Web serving, and scientific computing, says Michael Stephenson, lead product manager for Windows servers at Microsoft. "We wouldn't tell a customer that they need to upgrade all their Windows 2000 servers to 64 bit," he says.

What the limited edition does provide is more technical support from Microsoft than the company offers in conjunction with current 64-bit beta releases of Windows Advanced Server and DataCenter Server. The software vendor plans to follow the limited edition server release later this year with final 64-bit versions of Windows 2002, the follow-up to Windows 2000. Microsoft says it will provide customers purchasing the Limited Edition server a free upgrade to the 64-bit version of Windows 2002 Advanced Server when it ships.

Microsoft also said it will release a 64-bit operating system for workstations, called Windows XP 64-Bit Edition, on Oct. 25, the same day the company's scheduled to release 32-bit versions of Windows XP, it's new desktop operating system.