Intel Adds Tools To Boost 64-Bit ComputingIntel Adds Tools To Boost 64-Bit Computing

As computing systems move to 64-bit capabilities, Intel wants to make sure there's software to take advantage of those features. Last week, it unveiled tools to help developers design and optimize applications to run on its latest Extended Memory 64 Technology.

Similar products have been available for Intel's 64-bit Itanium 2 processor line, but the new products will support the 64-bit extensions offered with its x86-based Xeon and Pentium lines of processors. By endorsing the notion of the x86 64-bit extended architecture as the volume 64-bit platform, Intel "has simultaneously removed any hesitation about porting to 64-bits for any [independent software vendor]," Forrester Research VP Richard Fichera wrote earlier this year. "Now the effort to move from 32 bits to 64 bits can be justified by a much larger hardware base." The tools for Intel Extended Memory 64 Technology make turning 32-bit code into 64-bit code easier, and they also improve application performance, Intel says.

Available now, Intel Compiler 8.1 runs from $399 for C++ for Windows and C++ for Linux to $1,399 for Visual Fortran for Windows Professional Edition. The Integrated Performance Primitives and Math Kernel Library are $199 and $399, respectively. The VTune Performance Analyzers, due later this year, are $699.