ZDNet News reports that Intel has started shipping systems equipped with the new 64-bit Itanium chip to software and hardware developers. The chip will be the first to deviate from the long-standing x86 architecture used by the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company and its competitors for nearly two decades.

　　"I can't underestimate the magnitude of the accomplishment of being able to deliver development systems for this within three months of first silicon," said director of marketing for Intel's I-64 processing division Ron Curry. "I think that's a really strong indicator of how things are going."

　　Intel estimates that more than a hundred prototype systems will have shipped by the end of December and nearly ten times that number in January. Software and hardware developers will use these systems to build tools like operating systems and compatible peripherals to be ready for the Itanium's release in mid-2000.

　　Current Itanium processors are clocked between 500 and 600MHz, although Curry stresses that the focus of these prototype systems are for development and not performance. Intel will significantly ratchet the clock speeds of the Itanium upwards when the processor becomes available for the general public.