The Merced is a RISC processor developed by Intel with help from Hewlett-Packard and possibly Sun. It is just starting to be released, but is intended to eventually replace both the x86 and PA-RISC processors. Curiously, HP is recommending that everyone hold off using the first release and instead wait for the second one. It is expected some day to be roughly as fast as an Alpha or PowerPC. It is expected to be supported by future versions of Solaris, Windows-NT, HP-UX, Mac OS X, and Linux. The current semi-available Merced processor is called the Itanium. Its overall schedule is way behind, and some analysts predict that it never will really be released in significant quanitities.

The original development name for Intel's first microprocessor using the 64-bit Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) jointly developed by HP and Intel. The microprocessor is now named Itanium.

Intel's code name for its first 64-bit (IA-64) processor.

Early project name for Intel's first microprocessor implementation using the 64-bit instruction set architecture (ISA). See Itanium®.

Intel's 64-bit Chip