HP READIES FIRST IA-64 CHIPSET, PA-8600 CHIP.

Hewlett-Packard Co is readying the first IA-64 architecture chipset for release within the next two months. Scott Emo, Technology marketing manager at HP said that the first chipset using Intel Corp's new 64-bit architecture will use the IA-64 system bus with PA-RISC chips. The chipset will support HP's 64- bit Unix flavor and NT. Emo also promises Linux support some way down the line but he wasn't clear when that would be. "I'm not sure how far we are with the port," he admitted. Meanwhile, HP will out its new PA-RISC 8600 chip this month, with development plans into the next century. Emo said that the company was still planning parallel development of the PA-RISC and IA-64 lines well into the future. Emo denied that the first IA-64 iteration, Merced, was seen primarily as a development platform within HP, which is said to look to the next chip, McKinley, as the volume seller. Emo claimed that the company hoped to sell a "boatload" of the Merced chips, but admitted that sales were dependent on initial acceptance of the IA-64 platform. Like other firms working with IA-64 such as Siemens, HP is looking to offer systems can offer switching between Unix and NT. Emo said that HP would offer "multiple domains" on selected systems. However, he said that it was still unclear how many customers would want or use systems that could switch between multiple operating systems.