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Intel, with partner Hewlett-Packard, developed a next generation 64-bit processor architecture called IA-64 (the 80x86 design was renamed IA-32) - the first implementation was named Itanium. Itanium core processor is not binary compatible with X86 processors, instead it has a separate compatibility unit in hardware to provide IA32 compatibility.
Itanium only allow memory operands in load and store operations. As Itanium was a 64-bit processor so could address memory up to 4 GByte of RAM. The processor uses Explicitly Parallel Instruction Computing (EPIC), in which the compiler lines up instructions for parallel execution. Features were added to ensure compatibility with both Intel x86 and HP UNIX applications.
During development, it was widely expected that this would become the dominant processor architecture for servers, workstations, and perhaps even desktops, bumping the ubiquitous x86 architecture, and providing an industry-standard architecture across an unprecedented range of computing platforms, but it didn’t happen so. The Itanium processor was specifically designed to provide a very high level of parallel processing, to enable high performance without requiring very high clock frequencies (which can lead to excessive power consumption and heat generation).
Key strengths of the Itanium architecture include, Up to 6 instructions/cycle: The Itanium processor can handle up to 6 simultaneous 64-bit instructions per clock cycle, and the dual-core version can support up to two software threads per core, Extensive xecution resources per core: 256 application registers (128 general purpose, 128 floating point) and 64 predicate registers, Large cache: 24MB in the dual-core version (12MB per core), providing data to each core at up to 48GB/s, Large address space: 50-bit physical / 64-bit virtual, Small, energy-efficient core: Since Itanium relies on the compiler for scheduling instructions for parallel throughput (other architectures rely on runtime optimization within the processor itself), it has fewer transistors in each core. This may be an advantage in current and future multi-core designs.
Itanium Microprocessor.
Intel, with partner Hewlett-Packard, developed a next generation 64-bit processor architecture called IA-64 (the 80x86 design was renamed IA-32) - the first implementation was named Itanium. Itanium core processor is not binary compatible with X86 processors, instead it has a separate compatibility unit in hardware to provide IA32 compatibility.
Itanium only allow memory operands in load and store operations. As Itanium was a 64-bit processor so could address memory up to 4 GByte of RAM. The processor uses Explicitly Parallel Instruction Computing (EPIC), in which the compiler lines up instructions for parallel execution. Features were added to ensure compatibility with both Intel x86 and HP UNIX applications.
During development, it was widely expected that this would become the dominant processor architecture for servers, workstations, and perhaps even desktops, bumping the ubiquitous x86 architecture, and providing an industry-standard architecture across an unprecedented range of computing platforms, but it didn’t happen so. The Itanium processor was specifically designed to provide a very high level of parallel processing, to enable high performance without requiring very high clock frequencies (which can lead to excessive power consumption and heat generation).
Key strengths of the Itanium architecture include, Up to 6 instructions/cycle: The Itanium processor can handle up to 6 simultaneous 64-bit instructions per clock cycle, and the dual-core version can support up to two software threads per core, Extensive xecution resources per core: 256 application registers (128 general purpose, 128 floating point) and 64 predicate registers, Large cache: 24MB in the dual-core version (12MB per core), providing data to each core at up to 48GB/s, Large address space: 50-bit physical / 64-bit virtual, Small, energy-efficient core: Since Itanium relies on the compiler for scheduling instructions for parallel throughput (other architectures rely on runtime optimization within the processor itself), it has fewer transistors in each core. This may be an advantage in current and future multi-core designs.
Itanium Microprocessor.