Unisys, Microsoft To Demo 64-Bit Windows.Net Server On Itanium 2 At DevCon

The Blue Bell, Pa., OEM and its key partner will demonstrate the forthcoming 64-bit OS Windows .Net Server 2003, Datacenter Edition and 64-bit SQL Server running on Unisys' 32-way ES7000 SMP server at the Windows conference.

As the Unisys-Microsoft team readies the system to battle comparable 64-bit Unix servers, executives divided the server into two 16-processor partitions, one affording only the 4 Gbytes of memory in a 32-bit environment and another partition showing the more powerful capabilities of the 64-bit Itanium 2 environment.

For example, Unisys and Microsoft will demonstrate the 64-bit Windows database and 64-bit Windows.Net server code running in one of two partitions on the server using 64 Gbytes of memory, the maximum amount made available by Itanium 2.

Unisys claims a 16-fold performance boost for the Itanium 2-based server and OS over a 32-bit Windows server.

The Windows.Net Server 2003 fleet is expected to be officially launched during the first quarter of 2003. The Itanium 2 processor shipped in July 2002.

Unisys will also demonstrate a system running Intel's next-generation Madison Itanium chip at IDF next week in San Jose, Calif., executives said.