One of the first duties of the physician is to educate the masses not to take medicine - Sir William Osler
|
|
|
HP admits it has an Itanium development contract with Intel
FLOGGER OF EXPENSIVE PRINTER INK HP has admitted that it has a contract with Intel for the continued development of Itanium processors.
Last week Oracle claimed in court that there is a secret contract between HP and Intel forcing Intel to continue Itanium development despite poor sales. Shortly after, HP issued a statement in which it dodged the question by saying all it cares about is standing by its customers. However, today HP confirmed that a contract does exist between HP and Intel regarding Itanium.
According to HP its contract with Intel is for "the robust continued development and supply of new generations of Itanium microprocessors". This means that both firms are assured of mutual support for a certain period of time.
"As Oracle well knows, HP and Intel have a contract that ensures the robust continued development and supply of new generations of Itanium microprocessors for mission-critical enterprises spanning this decade," HP said in a statement.
The crucial point is whether Intel, which has declined to comment on this matter, would pull the plug on Itanium if this contract with HP did not exist. Intel's confirmation that Itanium updates will appear during this decade seems to confirm the arrival of Poulson and Kittson at some point.
HP's statement continued with the firm's aggressive defence against Oracle, claiming Oracle's decision to pull support for the Itanium IA-64 architecture was a cynical ploy to sell its own Sparc processor based kit.
"Oracle's latest filing is nothing more than a delay tactic designed to extend the paralyzing uncertainty in the marketplace created when Oracle announced in March 2011 - in a clear breach of contract - that it would no longer support HP's Itanium platform. The fact remains that Oracle's decision to cut off support for Itanium was a calculated business strategy to force Itanium customers into buying Sun servers. This filing is just the latest in its ongoing campaign to shore up its failing Sun server business and strand thousands of existing Itanium customers who rely on their Itanium processors for mission-critical activities."
It is not all that surprising that an 'Itanium development' contract between HP and Intel exists. After all both firms were heavily involved in the chip's development. What Oracle is likely to claim is that without such a contract HP or Intel, or both, would have given up on the chip. µ
Tags: Intel
Share this:
Share
What's all the fuss about ?
Surely when HP & Intel kicked off this joint development years ago, neither would have invested the money and resources supporting it without a contract specifying how each party is expected to perform. Why would it be any different now ?
It's just lawyers sparring in court now about gibberish.
Yesterday:
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."
I must be missing something, because only yesterday Intel was saying no contract existed, but now the story has changed. I guess this is like the the USDOJ was investigating Intel, and Intel settled the charges by stating that they did nothing wrong, but would immediately stop what they weren't doing to comply with the settlement.
Makes sense.