As for ill-broadcasted noise that Intel had backtracked by announcing 64
bit, x86 extensions, Intel did in fact backtrack by extending x86 to 64 bit
computing, instead of leap-frogging to new 64 bit architectures. This is
what Intel has already tried and failed do to during the last decade with
its 64 bit Itanium server processor it developed with HP. Not to use a pun,
but AMD has "hammered" away for years at the 64 bit Itanium lack of backward
compatibility with 32 bit server applications. Now, Intel has conceded
defeat to the server crowd, the resellers and the IT guys you yell at when
your desktop crashes: Itanium is no longer the next generation 64 bit server
processor, like Intel once claimed, but has been relegated to the status of
a "database processor." In the small server space, this means really that
x86 processing has won a long-term battle and will be a mainstay in server
applications for years to come.
To apologize to AMD lovers, who, and rightly so, point to the processor's
consistent performance spec ratings and price/quality benchmarks, which more
often than not beat Intel processors, Intel has also conceded that its
Itanium 64 bit is no way to go for small server applications.
Meanwhile, Opteron's 64 bit, x86 compatibility with existing 32 bit server
applications is what users want, at least according to unit sales
statistics. This is after Intel has poured millions into marketing campaigns
to tout Itanium as the next generation 64 bit server processor until this
week when Intel officially and finally pulled the plug and stopped the
hemorrhaging, by relegating the Itanium to the status of a "database
processor."
Intel eventually had to step up and embrace 64 bit computing, only now its
64 bit processing will continue to have an x86 legacy and it will never have
a lot to do with the Itanium.
Read more here:
http://www.tomshardware.com/column/20040220/index.html 
