Predictions for 1999: Intel responds to pleas for Merced

Companies supporting the processor include Sun, HP, Compaq/Digital, SCO and Novell.

Intel's IA-64 Merced processor will be one of the most talked about technologies in 1999 - despite the fact that it has been delayed and will not hit mainstream markets until 2000.

The fledgling chip architecture has received huge levels of advance support from both software and hardware companies. Industry giants including Sun, Hewlett-Packard, Compaq/Digital, SCO and Novell are developing servers or server operating systems to support the platform.

Intel stated that the fundamental architectural designs for Merced had been completed on time, but it had been over-ambitious with its original schedules. "As usual we were very aggressive with our original plans.

Then we did a reality check. OEMs, ISVs and other partners will still get Merced towards the end of 1999 and we don't expect the delay of six months to have a big impact on customers," said Intel representative Orietta Sutherberry.

However, despite the Merced hype, the chip's delay means that Unix Risc systems such as IBM's PowerPC, Sun's Sparc and Digital's Alpha, will be offered a respite in the mid- and high-end enterprise server market. Such systems will remain the business-critical computing workhorses for at least another two years to come, according to analyst IDC.

When it finally hits the streets, Merced may be the reason behind the large-scale purchase of low-priced NT servers to run the enterprise. However, 1998 was a year when Unix continued to grow, S/390 mainframes confounded a number of obituary writers, and Numa parallel technology made a dazzling appearance.

Nathan Brookwood, an analyst at Dataquest, pointed out that, even without Merced, the server market was being swamped.

"Intel has so many products coming up in the server space that the market might not be able to digest them all in 1999," said Brookwood.

 IN & OUT: Our tips for what will be in fashion
 In                               Out
 VoIP                             Talking about VoIP
 Big corporate acquisitions       Corporates developing their own
                                  products
 VPN                              VPL
 Policy-based networking          Sort it out when it hits the fan
                                  networking
 Layer 4 switching                Strawberry layer cake
 IP                               IPX
 Booking flights for 31-12-99     Y2K projects paying loads of dosh
 David Beckham                    Michael Owen
 Pure Java                        Microsoft instant J
 Talking about convergence        Convergence
 Anorexic clients                 Java NCs
 Internet portals                 Push technology
 Sans                             Traditional Lans Being "Smooth"
                                  Being a "Bastard"