Itanium - Software Support

Software Support

Itanium is supported by the following operating systems:

• HP-UX 11i
• OpenVMS I64
• NonStop OS
• multiple GNU/Linux distributions (including Debian, Gentoo and SUSE's SLE)
• FreeBSD
• Bull GCOS
• NEC ACOS

Itanium was also supported by these operating systems:

• Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Microsoft announced that Windows Server 2008 R2 would be the last version of Windows Server to support the Itanium, and that it would also discontinue development of the Itanium versions of Visual Studio and SQL Server. Likewise, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 was the last Itanium edition of Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Canonical's Ubuntu 10.04 LTS was the last supported Ubuntu release on Itanium. HP will not be supporting or certifying Linux on Itanium 9300 (Tukwila) servers.

Oracle Corporation announced in March 2011 that it would drop development of application software for Itanium platforms, with the explanation that "Intel management made it clear that their strategic focus is on their x86 microprocessor and that Itanium was nearing the end of its life." However, a California state judge ruled that Oracle will have to continue supporting and releasing new versions of its software designed for Intel Itanium-based servers sold by Hewlett-Packard, after a settlement and release agreement between HP, Oracle and Mark Hurd had revealed that Oracle must continue to offer its product suite on HP's Itanium-based server platforms and does not confer on Oracle the discretion to decide whether to do so or not. Oracle's obligation to continue to offer its products on HP's Itanium-based server platforms lasts until such time as HP discontinues the sales of its Itanium-based servers. Oracle was ordered to port its products to HP's Itanium-based servers without charge to HP.

HP sells a virtualization technology for Itanium called Integrity Virtual Machines.

To allow more software to run on the Itanium, Intel supported the development of compilers optimized for the platform, especially its own suite of compilers. Starting in November 2010, with the introduction of new product suites, the Intel Itanium Compilers were no longer bundled with the Intel x86 compilers in a single product. Intel offers Itanium tools and Intel x86 tools, including compilers, independently in different product bundles. GCC, Open64 and Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 (and later) are also able to produce machine code for Itanium. According to the Itanium Solutions Alliance over 13,000 applications were available for Itanium based systems in early 2008, though Sun has contested Itanium application counts in the past. The ISA also supported Gelato, an Itanium HPC user group and developer community that ported and supported open source software for Itanium.