Windows & .NET Magazine UPDATE--64-Bit Computing Gets More Interesting, More Complicated--February 24, 2004

Commentary: 64-Bit Computing Gets More Interesting, More Complicated

Last week, at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) Spring 2004 in San Francisco, microprocessor giant Intel revealed what CEO Craig Barrett called the "worst kept secret" in the IT industry: Intel is now mounting a two-pronged attack on 64-bit computing and will complement its Itanium product family with a quickly growing line of 32-bit chips that will include 64-bit extensions. This move basically means that Intel will retroactively adopt the strategy innovated by its competitor AMD and add 64-bit capabilities to its popular 32-bit server, workstation, and, eventually, desktop chips. For businesses starting to hit the limits of 32-bit computing--especially the 4GB memory constraint--Intel's move is good news. But the change isn't going to happen overnight, and it raises some serious concerns about compatibility, performance, and choice. Let's look at what's happening and examine how Intel's plans will affect your hardware purchases over

Intel's original Itanium wasn't the first 64-bit platform that Microsoft supported, but it was the first one that lasted any appreciable amount of time. Today's Itanium 2 products are backed by workstation and server versions of Windows, as well as by other OSs, including Linux. The Itanium is a "from scratch" 64-bit microprocessor, an original design that Intel co-developed with hardware giant HP in a bid to spearhead enterprise-class 64-bit computing. From a technological standpoint, the Itanium was the right idea: Break from the technical limits of the past and start fresh, addressing the unique concerns (e.g., increased memory space and bandwidth) that 64-bit computing enables. From a marketing perspective, however, the Itanium has proven to be something of a disaster for Intel, which typically sees its products sell in mass-market numbers. Incompatible with 32-bit software, except through a slow-performing emulation environment, the Itanium hasn't sold well. Further hobbling its growth is the megahertz myth that Intel helped to propagate as it moved its desktop chips to ever-faster speeds. Because Itanium chips run at much slower clock speeds than its Xeon and Pentium 4 chips, many customers perceive that the Itanium chips perform poorly as well, which isn't the case.

Meanwhile, one of Intel's few remaining competitors was working on an ingenious idea: Instead of wasting the time and expense of developing a completely new and incompatible microprocessor platform, tiny AMD decided to bring customers the best of both worlds and started a project, code-named Sledgehammer, that would bind a set of 64-bit extensions to a 32-bit Intel x86-compatible line of processors. The new processors would be backward-compatible with the Intel Pentium 4 family of chips but also offer the benefits of 64-bit computing. Released in mid-2003 as the Opteron line and followed by a line of desktop-compatible chips named Athlon 64, these innovative server-oriented processors were not only fully compatible with existing systems, they were also much cheaper than Itanium-based systems. Collectively, these chips make up the AMD64 platform.

Regardless, AMD's solution would have been dead on arrival if Microsoft hadn't cooperated by announcing plans to support AMD64 with special 64-bit versions of Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP. Various Linux makers, including Sun Microsystems, also support the chips. Today, customers can run 32-bit Windows versions on these systems or run a beta version of the 64-bit OSs, which, according to Microsoft, will be finalized by late 2004.

Back at Intel, the company was still pushing the Itanium 2 to a reluctant market, but it was also secretly pursuing a way to add 64-bit capabilities to its high-volume 32-bit processors. Last week, the company officially unveiled these plans, and in a stunning moment of humility, the company announced that it plans to follow AMD's lead by offering 64-bit extensions to its chips, extensions that will be 100 percent compatible with AMD's offerings. That move means that Intel's upcoming hybrid chips will run the same 64-bit Windows and Linux versions now supporting the AMD64 chips, a boon to customers, who will now be able to make purchase decisions based on price and performance rather than on compatibility.

Intel will phase in the chips over time. By mid-2004, Intel will issue next-generation, dual-processor-capable Xeon chips with 64-bit extensions aimed at server and workstation markets. These chips will compete with the AMD Opteron family of processors. By late-2004, Intel will ship 64-bit Pentium 4 chips, aimed at the workstation and desktop markets and targeting AMD Athlon 64 processors. In early 2005, Intel will ship 4-processor-capable Xeon versions. The company will continue to develop and market the Itanium family for high-end server needs, and it recently released a software update that lets 32-bit applications run faster on those systems, although those applications will never run as quickly on Itanium as native applications do.

From what I can tell, the Itanium will always have a place, but the new 64-bit-compatible Xeon and Pentium 4 chips will be mass-market successes that will bring 64-bit computing to a much larger audience than would previously have been possible, although the availability of 64-bit applications, servers, and services will be key. In some ways, I feel for AMD, which will likely suffer the innovator's dilemma and see its market-leading moves rewarded with a thorough beating at the hands of Intel. That's too bad, because AMD had the right idea. Although adding 64-bit capabilities to an aging 32-bit platform might seem kludgy, I've always advocated customer needs over technical excellence; heck, that explains the success of the wider PC industry better than just about any other argument.

Looking ahead to 64-bit computing, you should be aware of a few factors that can affect any rollout strategy. First is the aforementioned application compatibility problem. Second is cost: If the 64-bit-compatible Xeon and Pentium 4 systems are price-compatible with today's chips, buying them as they come out will be an interesting way to future-proof your purchases and make them compatible with tomorrow's 64-bit applications if the need arises. Third, you'll now have a choice when selecting your next-generation processors. With both Intel and AMD plying compatible wares, enterprises will soon have the same type of platform choice to make that consumers now enjoy. I don't have any experience with AMD's server chips, but its desktop chips have consistently outperformed Intel's at the same clock speed, leading AMD to market its products against those Intel chips that the AMD chips outperform, and not by actual clock speed. For example, the Athlon 64 3400+ performs at the level of a 3.4GHz Intel Pentium 4, a chip that doesn't even exist yet. If the competitive nature of the desktop market moves into the workstation and server markets, we're all going to benefit. And really, that's the most exciting aspect of Intel's recent 64-bit moves.

Hot Off the Press

Microsoft Strikes Back at RealNetworks Microsoft issued a legal response Friday to digital-media giant RealNetworks' charge that Microsoft illegally leveraged its OS dominance to gain market share for Windows Media Player (WMP) and its other Windows Digital Media products. Microsoft argues that its behavior "constitutes permissible competitive activity" and is therefore legal; the company also accused RealNetworks of launching its antitrust lawsuit to gain its own market share. RealNetworks filed its lawsuit against Microsoft in December, accusing Microsoft of predatory conduct.

Keeping Up with Win2K and NT

A VSS Update, Problems with the Windows Time Service, an SBS 2003 POP3 Connector Patch, and More. Last November, I discussed two hotfixes you could install to correct problems with the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) code. In late December, Microsoft released a cumulative update for VSS that supersedes the November version documented in the Microsoft article "Time-Out Errors Occur in Volume Shadow Copy Service Writers, and Shadow Copies Are Lost During Backup and During Times When There Are High Levels of Input/Output" (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=826936). Time-out errors occur in VSS writers, and shadow copies are lost during backup and during times with high I/O levels.
The update corrects 14 documented bugs in the VSS code, including failure of shadow copies on disks with small cluster sizes, timeout errors that occur when you back up the system, and errors specific to a Windows Server 2003 cluster configuration. Available only from Microsoft Product Support Services (PSS), this update contains new versions of 12 components that are crucial to VSS; most of the components have a file release date of December 18 or December 26. The Microsoft article "A Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) update package is available for Windows Server 2003" (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=833167) documents the bugs this update addresses.

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The voting has closed in Windows & .NET Magazine's nonscientific Instant Poll for the question, "Do you believe last week's Windows source code leak will lead to major security problems and breaches?" Here are the results from the 376 votes:
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Resources

Tip: How can I move a computer account from one domain to another?
by John Savill

The Netdom command-line tool lets you move a computer account from one domain to another. For example, to move an account, I typed

netdom move compmoveme /domain child1 /ud:[email protected] /pd:xfxxxx

where "/domain" identifies which target domain to move the object to and "/ud" and "/pd" identify the account and password, respectively, to use for the specified domain. To see other options for Netdom, from the command line type

netdom move /?

Events Central

New--Microsoft Security Strategies Roadshow! We've teamed with Microsoft, Avanade, and Network Associates to bring you a full day of training to help you get your organization secure and keep it secure. You'll learn how to implement a patch-management strategy; lock down servers, workstations, and network infrastructure; and implement security policy management. Register now for this free, 20-city tour.

New and Improved

Don't Worry About Forgotten Passwords. LastBit Software released Password Director 2.0, a secure password storage database that features remote access capability. Password Director can directly import or export data to and from Windows Protected Storage. The software features an automatic password-capture option and eliminates the need for the user to manually enter each password. Password Director is also the only program that hosts password databases remotely at LastBit's secure server so that any traveling user who forgets a password can log on to LastBit's secure server. Pricing is $29. Contact LastBit Software at [email protected].

Add a Security Layer to Your Backup Strategy. FSoft released RTMirror, a real-time folder-mirroring application that lets you specify one or more folders on your local hard disk to copy. When you modify files in those folders, RTMirror silently copies the files to a different folder (either on another hard disk or on another networked computer). RTMirror is designed to add a security layer to your backup strategy. In the event of a primary hard disk failure, you can restore all your important files from the backup copies created by RTMirror. Contact FSoft at [email protected].

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