The Itanium has a long and stormy history. It began a decade ago as the two firms teamed up to build a powerful 64-bit machine to compete with Digital Equipment's Alpha processor and the Power PC, jointly built initially by IBM and Motorola. Motorola left the Power PC program years ago and the Alpha fizzled when Digital Equipment was acquired by Compaq Computer.
Shannon said the Fort Collins design team deserves credit for "fixing" the Itanium 1 and launching the Itanium 2. Shannon noted that the Itanium has been much maligned, but said much of the criticism was unjustified. "The Itanium was the fastest computer in the world for two weeks," Shannon said, observing that the Itanium-based Superdome computer led the supercomputer sweepstakes for a short period before being beaten by an IBM supercomputer configuration.
Shannon pointed to SGI's Altix supercomputers " built around Itanium processors " as an example of a vendor making good use of the Itanium. He believes there are 45 to 50 OEM customers for the Itanium, and he suspects that number will grow once other OEMs realize that HP is no longer part of the Itanium design team.
Subsea cable alternatives can provide a level of comfort for those concerned about disruptions. Realistically, they will continue to play a small, but critical role in the short term.
Maintaining existing network infrastructures often incurs huge technical debt before newer technologies are adopted over time.
Amid ongoing regional uncertainties, telecom infrastructure in the Middle East has expand to include terrestrial low-latency network infrastructure, which offers resilience and agility in navigating political complexities without relying solely on undersea networks.
