Oracle claims Intel continued Itanium development for HP

ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY VENDOR Oracle has claimed in court that Intel was forced to produce new Itanium processors due to a secret contract it had signed with HP.

Intel and HP spent billions jointly developing the ill-fated Itanium processor but few server vendors other than HP carried the chip for long. However, Intel continued to develop Itanium, with the common consensus being that the chipmaker wanted to save face despite poor sales. But according to Oracle, it was due to contractual obligations with HP.

Oracle said, "As innocuous as HP tries to make that sound, the market has never been told that Itanium lives on only because HP is paying Intel to keep it going."

HP roundly denied Oracle's claims, saying, "Oracle's trumped-up accusations in its November 15 filing are false and a transparent effort to avoid the early trial date set by the Court to adjudicate the contractual commitment Oracle undertook to continue to support HP's platforms, and then abruptly breached. HP is resolved to enforcing Oracle's commitments to HP and our shared customers and will continue to take actions to protect its customers' best interests. It is time for Oracle to quit pursuing baseless accusations and honor its commitments to HP and to our shared customers in a timely manner."

HP has repeatedly said that it keeps supporting Itanium because it stands by its customers. The point Oracle is trying to prove is that even Intel would give up on Itanium if it had not signed what must be an iron-clad contract with HP.

Oracle has been trying to get hold of this contract from Intel, but said that its attempt to get this document "in particular is proving to be contentious". µ