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Compaq Computer has delayed shipments of its planned Itanium-based servers because the chip did not pass certain undisclosed tests, officials confirmed Tuesday.
Compaq, Houston, has yet to ship its Proliant PL590 server, officials said. However, the unit, which uses both the 733-MHz and 800-MHz version of Intel Corp.s Itanium processor, has failed a “stress test”, according to Tim Willeford, a spokesman for the companys Industry Standard Server Group.
The reason for the failure is being investigated by both Intel and Compaq. Willeford called the incident a “very normal part of our procedure.”
The cause for the failure has not been directly tied to the Itanium processor, according to officials at both Compaq and Intel. Officials at both companies said they have been unable to determine the “root cause” of the problem. However, the failure has apparently been reproduced both in the planned PL590 server as well as a third-party “white box” implementation, Willeford said, making it doubtful that Compaqs own design work was at fault.
Officials at Compaq declined to discuss the specifics of the stress test, and declined to provide details of what the failure of the stress test might mean.
A spokesman for Intel, Santa Clara, Calif., said the failure was referred to as a “sighting”, a possible flaw that could be system-based, application-based, or due to a variety of other factors.
A spokeswoman for Hewlett-Packard Co., Palo Alto, Calif., said the companys own tests had revealed no flaws with its Itanium-based servers. Intel has been shipping the Itanium since March to over 20 OEMs. The issue was first reported by The Inquirer.