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The article reveals changes and developments in the computer industry. The computer industry looked pretty predictable six months ago. Since then there have been surprises in processors and technology that have changed the whole playing field. These unexpected events involve almost all of the major players in processors and systems. The largest changes have happened to Intel, the world's biggest processor maker. Intel was set to bring its 90 nanometer Prescott chips into the market and had updated Itanium chips in the queue. AMD's Opteron chips were then becoming a major challenge for Intel, as they were both powerful and offered 64-bit extensions while still running 32-bit code very well. On the Itanium side, IBM is taking its Power processor architecture to levels that are very competitive with Intel's Itanium. Intel's plan to dominate the high end processor market with its proprietary Itanium design now faces challenges from AMD below and IBM above. Sun Microsystems is another company in the throes of change. It has just cancelled its next planned processor, the UltraSparc V, in order to go with new multicore designs named Niagara and Rock. It has also extended its systems line to embrace AMD's Opteron and Linux while continuing to enhance the Solaris operating system.

The article reveals changes and developments in the computer industry. The computer industry looked pretty predictable six months ago. Since then there have been surprises in processors and technology that have changed the whole playing field. These unexpected events involve almost all of the major players in processors and systems. The largest changes have happened to Intel, the world's biggest processor maker. Intel was set to bring its new 90 nanometer Prescott chips into the market and had updated Itanium chips in the queue. AMD's Opteron chips were then becoming a major challenge for Intel, as they were both powerful and offered 64-bit extensions while still running 32-bit code very well. On the Itanium side, IBM is taking its Power processor architecture to levels that are very competitive with Intel's Itanium. Intel's plan to dominate the high end processor market with its proprietary Itanium design now faces challenges from AMD below and IBM above. Sun Microsystems is another company in the throes of change. It has just cancelled its next planned processor, the UltraSparc V, in order to go with new multicore designs named Niagara and Rock. It has also extended its systems line to embrace AMD's Opteron and Linux while continuing to enhance the Solaris operating system.

The article reveals changes and developments in the computer industry. The computer industry looked pretty predictable six months ago. Since then there have been surprises in processors and technology that have changed the whole playing field. These unexpected events involve almost all of the major players in processors and systems. The largest changes have happened to Intel, the world's biggest processor maker. Intel was set to bring its new 90 nanometer Prescott chips into the market and had updated Itanium chips in the queue. AMD's Opteron chips were then becoming a major challenge for Intel, as they were both powerful and offered 64-bit extensions while still running 32-bit code very well. On the Itanium side, IBM is taking its Power processor architecture to levels that are very competitive with Intel's Itanium. Intel's plan to dominate the high end processor market with its proprietary Itanium design now faces challenges from AMD below and IBM above. Sun Microsystems is another company in the throes of change. It has just cancelled its next planned processor, the UltraSparc V, in order to go with new multicore designs named Niagara and Rock. It has also extended its systems line to embrace AMD's Opteron and Linux while continuing to enhance the Solaris operating system.