JavaOne It's a tough job. Convincing Java developers that any hardware vendor - let alone Intel in the wake of roadmap set backs - has any immediate relevance.

It's an even harder task sidestepping Intel's thorny heritage with Sun Microsystems over its 64-bit Itanium chipset.

And, it's all made harder by the fact Sun Microsystems has enjoyed an x86 server renaissance thanks to low-cost, multi-core chips from AMD and that Intel was forced to eat crow and follow AMD by belatedly signing on the dotted line with Sun.

That didn't stop Renee James, vice president and general manager for Intel's solutions group, from bravely stepping up to announce a significant expansion in its relationship with Sun and on-going commitment to developers.

In what must have been a hard-negotiated deal, Intel has agreed to port Java to Itanium by mid 2008.

Also promised is fine-tuning OpenSolaris to Intel's x86 hardware, on-going co-operation to boost performance of Solaris on Intel, and research into Solaris' support for Intel virtualization. There was no mention of any Itanium servers from Sun, though.

Tackling gingerly what Sun's former chief executive Scott McNealy once fondly referred to as Itanic (You owe us for that, Scott - Ed), James claimed growing success for the plaform, with a whopping 12,000 applications and eight OEMs for Itanium.

With Sun's AMD relationship and Intel's roadmap stumble hovering in the background, James said:

"Last year we revamped our entire product line... I know some are skeptics, but this is a fantastic time [for Intel]," James said. "We have a brand new architecture. Probably the best products we've had in a decade."

Of course any hardware provider must work hard to earn their stripes at a software conference like JavaOne.

Intel's executive continued: "One of the long held beliefs is, for developers to have payback they need volume... we are working to make sure dual and quad core are mainstream... and you can be assured these aren't very high end and esoteric machines," unlike, say, Itanium.

James claimed one million of its quad core chips will have shipped by the end of 2007 "before our competitors have shipped any.

"By the end of the year, we will move quad core to 45 nanometer" - cue general head scratching and glazing of Java eyes. "That means greater performance at the same power and the best power performance per watt." Thanks for clarifying.

James promised Intel would become "more vocal" on open source, releasing more tools and threading technologies to the community. "We would like to be the platform of choice for any software," she said, losing a little focus on the Java theme of JavaOne.®

Related stories

Intel gives Solaris a telco squeeze (16 July 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/07/16/sun_intel_telco/
Intel's many-core version of Itanium to skip 45nm (14 June 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/14/intel_itanium_kittson/
Intel updates multi-core tools (7 June 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/07/intel_multicore_tools/
Sun explores parallel universe with Studio 12 (4 June 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/04/sun_studio_linux/
OpenSolaris fans in a tizzy over 'Project Copy Linux' (31 May 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/31/sun_project_indiana/
IBM builds alliance to tackle 32nm design (23 May 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/23/ibm_development_agreement/
Judge doubts Intel can defeat Intelmark trademark (17 May 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/17/coa_intel_intelmark/
Need emergency contraception? Just text (13 May 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/13/ru486/
Sun's servers resurgent in 2006 - Gartner (22 February 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/02/22/gartner_2006_sales/
HP trumpets HP-UX release and Itanium kit (15 February 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/02/15/hp_unix_three/
Intel roadmaps 6MB L2 Core 2 Duos? (8 February 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/02/08/intel_mobile_roadmap_feb_07/
Intel won't launch 45nm desktop CPUs until 2008? (2 February 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/02/02/intel_45nm_desktops_until_q1_08/
Itanium vendors spanked by IBM, Sun and Dell (21 November 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/11/21/itanium_q3_hp/
Intel bares Tigerton (23 October 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/23/intel_shows_tigerton/
Itanium powers world's fastest Solaris box! (27 September 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/27/solaris_itanium/
Intel goes public with quad-core roadmap (26 September 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/09/26/intel_quad-core_roadmap/
HP and Oracle committed to Itanic (3 March 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/03/03/hp_itanium_servers/
Solaris ported to Itanium? (2 March 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/03/02/sun_solaris_itanium/
IDC's missing Itanium report found at rival analyst firm (24 February 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/24/clabby_cured_again/
Le Misancalculation: A one act Itanium tragedy by IDC (17 February 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/17/itanic_oracle_idc/
The Solaris on Itanium discussion stalls again (11 September 2004)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/09/11/intel_sun_solarium/
Intel to 'ditch' Pentium 4 core after Prescott (7 May 2004)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/05/07/intel_cancels_tejas/
Sun says HP customers are ‘ripe’ for change (11 February 2004)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/02/11/sun_says_hp_customers/