It wasn't exactly a secret, but Intel's announcement at Spring IDF that it would include 64-bit extensions in upcoming Xeon and Pentium 4 processors still shook the industry. Although there are different opinions on what the move will mean to Intel and arch rival AMD, it will certainly mean more choices and lower prices for workstation users.

Industry analysts have suspected that Intel was working on a set of 64-bit extensions for some time, rumored to be code named "Yamhill," but the company has always refused to comment. In fact executives have often disputed that such extensions were even necessary. Intel's company line was that Pentium and Xeon were sufficient for 32-bit applications, and the Itanium architecture would serve the emerging 64-bit market. Besides, creating hybrid chip could cut into Itanium sales, which Intel has spent millions promoting. At IDF, however, Intel did just that.

Intel announced that upcoming Xeon processors would include 64-bit extensions and be able to run both 32-bit and 64-bit software. The new Xeon, code-named Nocona, should ship by the middle of the year and will initially have a 3.6 GHz clock rate. In early 2005, the company plans to offer Pentium 4 chips that include the same extensions. In fact, the underlying architecture is already present in the 90nm the Pentium 4 Prescott core, but it will be activated and ship until 2004.

The release of the 32-bit extensions was largely driven by the success of AMD's Opteron and Athlon64 processors, which also run both 64-bit and 32-bit code. Opteron has found a home as a low-cost alternative to Itanium in workstations and servers, scoring design wins with companies like IBM, HP, and Sun. IBM, for example, released the Opteron-based e325 server and is expected to offer an Opteron-based workstation soon. The Athlon64 has been popular among gamers and a growing number of mainstream consumers that want to have a 64-bit upgrade path.

Although Intel seems to be validating AMD's extension strategy, the added competition could hurt AMD's market share. IBM, HP, and Microsoft have all announced they will support the new Xeon's with 64-bit extensions.

IBM will offer Nocana as soon as it is available in its xSeries servers, IntelliStation workstation and BladeCenter blade servers. HP will use the chips in its line of ProLiant systems. And Microsoft has said that it will offer versions of Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP operating systems that will support Intel 's new processors.

"Microsoft's and Intel's leadership continues to deliver powerful, cost-effective, 64-bit computing to the broad IT market," said Jim Allchin, group vice president of the Platforms Group at Microsoft in a statement supporting Intel's announcement. "Windows for 64-bit extended systems unlocks powerful new 64-bit processing capabilities while preserving the value of customer's 32-bit application investments."

Nvidia also announced support for the new Xeon with its own 64-bit graphics software. The new software features 16 lanes of PCI-Express capability dedicated to graphics processing. Featured in Nvidia's ForceWare Unified Driver Architecture, Nvidia's early release of its ForceWare Release 64-Bit provides high performance, advanced scalability, and unmatched support, addressing the most demanding needs of technical workstation users who require large amounts of memory and floating point.