Itanium Rising: Breaking Through Moore's Second Law of Computing Power

At the Start: The Wide Word Project

In 1990, a project that originally was named the “Super Workstation” project, and subsequently rechristened the “PA Wide Word” effort, was inaugurated at the Hewlett-Packard laboratories. The scheduled 1989 meeting date between Frank Carrubba, Director of HP Labs, and John Young, HP CEO, to discuss initiating the project, was probably fitting for a project that was destined to send shocks through the world of processor technology. It so happened that the scheduled meeting time took place exactly when the Loma Prieta earthquake rattled California's fault lines with a sizeable trembler. Director Frank Carrubba recalled that he had just entered John Young's office when the building started to shake and ceiling ...