INDUSTRY

The Itanium Solutions Alliance hosts the first Itanium Solutions Summit. Aimed at highlighting the breadth of Itanium 2-baesd solutions opportunities, this event brings together Itanium-based hardware vendors with top software players. The Alliance has launched the ISV Platform Expansion Program, geared towards easing the migration of solutions currently deployed on legacy SPARC Solaris platforms to the latest, high-performance Intel Itanium 2 architecture. Using Transitive Corporation’s QuickTransit technology, ISVs who have applications specifically written for SPARC Solaris can immediately expand their market to include Itanium-based platforms – without porting. “Our QuickTransit software enables applications written for the Solaris/SPARC platform to run on the Itanium platform without source code or binary changes,” said Bob Wiederhold, president and CEO of Transitive Corporation. “As a new member of the ISA, we will provide licenses and support to ISV member companies who are interested in running their Solaris applications on the newest generation of Itanium platforms - immediately.” At the event the Alliance also launched the Itanium Solutions Alliance Innovation Contest. Aimed at showcasing deployments of Itanium 2-based applications, this program will award grand prizes of $50,000 in three categories. “Itanium Solutions Alliance programs have provided a foundation for industry innovation and customer deployment of Itanium platforms while attracting a critical mass of member companies,” said Jens-Peter Seick, vice president enterprise server business at Fujitsu Siemens Computers. “The innovation award program has been chartered to award best in class industry innovation and bring attention to the work of some of the industry’s most talented developers. We expect the program to spur new thoughts on usage for Itanium platforms in mission-critical business and technical computing environments.” Multiple awards will be delivered in spring 2007 and judged by a panel of industry experts. The award categories include: • Humanitarian Impact: This category will highlight innovative use of applications that demonstrate a profound impact on humanity through research, social improvements or other humanitarian efforts. • Enterprise/Business Applications: This category will award the uses of applications running on Intel Itanium 2 architecture that produce effect business effectiveness in a number of measurable categories • Entrepreneurial: Aimed at smaller companies, this award will recognize companies who utilize Itanium 2-based solutions to improve business operations. In addition to the grand prizes other accolades will be awarded. For more information about the program and to download an entrance application, please visit the Itanium Solutions Alliance Website at www.itaniumsolutionsalliance.org. In addition to presentations from leading hardware and software vendors, the industry heard from customers that are currently deploying Itanium-based solutions. Customers appearing onstage included RMS Solutions and the Louisiana Immersive Technologies Enterprise (LITE). Also in attendance was JDA Software who recently became the 100th company to join the Alliance. A global organization, the Itanium Solutions Alliance was founded in September 2005 with a mission to accelerate Itanium-based solution deployments through a suite of software porting and optimization tools. Alliance enabling programs include Developer Days, a Solutions Center Network and the Itanium Solutions Catalog, the first public listing of software applications available on Itanium-based platforms. Membership to the Alliance is open to any enterprise and technical software supplier looking to optimize applications for Itanium environments or enterprise and technical computing providers looking to network with other leaders in delivery of computing solutions. More information about the Alliance, programs and membership can be found at its Web site.