Red Hat to support Itanium 2-based systems

SAN FRANCISCO, USA: The Itanium Solutions Alliance, in collaboration with Red Hat today announced that in the upcoming release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 5.1 (RHEL), integrated software virtualization will be supported and optimized for Itanium 2-based systems. This release broadens Itanium-based solutions in the marketplace.

The reliability, availability, serviceability (RAS) and security features of the Intel Itanium processor allow users to confidently deploy industry-standard software virtualization, enhancing customers' ability to consolidate multiple applications on Itanium-based systems.

"Itanium Solutions Alliance founding sponsors worked with Red Hat to test, validate and optimize this fully integrated virtualization solution. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.1 provides customers with the maximum choice among enterprise systems when deploying open source applications on Itanium," said Scott Crenshaw, vice president of product marketing at Red Hat.

He added, "Also, Red Hat Enterprise Linux Advanced Platform 5.1 provides additional high availability and storage virtualization technologies, and scales to support any number of processors and guest environments – making it the perfect solution for today's large, high-performance Itanium systems."

"The Itanium Solutions Alliance is pleased to have the opportunity to coordinate efforts with Red Hat to expand software solutions for Itanium-based systems and contribute to the growth of the Independent Software Vendor ecosystem," said Yoichi Murakami, Fujitsu Limited, Chairman of the Itanium Solutions Alliance Enabling Committee.

The collaboration with charter member Red Hat comes as the Itanium Solutions Alliance reaches its two year anniversary. Since its inception in 2005, the Itanium Solutions Alliance has grown in membership to more than 200 companies and application availability for Itanium-based systems has surpassed 12,000.

Alliance membership is open to any enterprise and technical software supplier looking to optimize applications for Itanium-based environments or enterprise and technical computing providers looking to network with other leaders in delivery of leading computing solutions.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.1 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux Advanced Platform 5.1 for Itanium systems are scheduled for availability in Q4CY07.