In a press release yesterday, HP went over future business plans for their PC hardware, including statements saying that HP will increase attention given to storage management software and automated data centers. A key point was HP's commitment to the Itanium. Despite increased pressure from 64-bit x86 processors and very nice offerings from Sun and IBM, HP is planning to expand their Itanium line and continue to support customers using it.
"If you buy from HP – from an Itanium perspective – you have my commitment for support,"
It does make a bit of sense. A lot of retailers for the Itanium have dropped support for it and have limited product available or have ceased offering Itanium altogether. HP, on the other hand, makes up nearly two-thirds of Intel's Itanium sales worldwide. Even if the Itanium is reduced completely to niche status, being one of the very few vendors that carry it puts HP in a good position.