SAN FRANCISCO (02/17/2000) - Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corp. have opened a developers' laboratory and released an updated toolkit to support the planned release of a 64-bit version of the Windows 2000 operating system later this year, the companies announced today.
Microsoft is expected to release a version of Windows that will support Intel's 64-bit Itanium processor when it is released by midyear, Marion Koehler, an Intel spokeswoman, said today in a telephone interview. In the meantime, both companies are taking several actions to prepare for the release of the OS.
Microsoft has opened the "64-bit Windows Developer's Lab" in Redmond, Washington, to enhance the porting and development of software applications for the OS, the companies said in a statement.
Both companies also said they have released an advanced version of an IA-64 Software Development Kit for software and hardware developers who want to create applications and computer systems for 64-bit Windows.
A beta version of 64-bit Windows 2000 will be released within the next four to five months.
"Essentially, these steps are helping developers, independent software vendors and original equipment manufacturers gear up for a 64-bit Windows," Ryan James, an executive with Microsoft's public relations firm, Waggener Edstrom Inc., said today in a telephone interview.
Microsoft has not announced which version of Windows 2000 will run the Itanium processor, James said.
Microsoft, in Redmond, Washington, can be reached at +1-425-882-8080, or at http://www.microsoft.com/. Intel, in Santa Clara, California, is at +1-408-987-8080, or at http:///www.intel.com/.