Merced was the code name during development for Itanium is the first in a series of processors based on the

processors based on the new

the microprocessor that Intel markets as the Itanium.
Itanium is Intel's first microprocessor that is based on the 64-
bit architecture known as IA-64. Developed under the code
name of Merced , Itanium and its underlying architecture are
expected to provide a foundation for the next-generation of
software for the server and high-end workstation markets.
Intel plans to follow Itanium with additional IA-64
microprocessors, which have the code names of McKinley,
Madison, and Deerfield.
In addition to supporting a 64-bit processor bus and a set of
28 register s, the 64-bit design allows access to a very
large memory (VLM). In addition, the architecture exploits
features in Explicitly Parallel Instruction Computing (EPIC ), a
joint Intel and Hewlett-Packard development effort. These
provide advances in the parallel processing handling of
computer instruction s known as predication and speculation .
An additional Itanium feature includes a Level 3 (L3) cache
memory , to supplement the current L1and L2 cache
memories found in most of today's microcomputers.
Most applications in use today are based on a32-bit
microprocessor architecture, and are designed for up to 4
gigabytes of memory. However, with application access to
ever-larger databases becoming more important, many of the
leading software and hardware suppliers in the computer
industry have already begun to develop systems and
applications for the Itanium and its ability to handle 64-bit
address space.
One feature of Itanium is its use of a "smart compiler " to
optimize how instructions are sent to the processor. This
approach allows Itanium and future IA-64 microprocessors to
process more instructions per clock cycle (IPCs). (IPCs can
be used along with clock speed in terms of megahertz (MHz)
to indicate a microprocessor's overall performance.)
Itanium is viewed by Intel and industry observers as a new
level of hardware platform for the UNIX and Windows server
market and also for the high-end PC workstation market with
its memory- and graphics- intensive scientific, technical, and
high-end graphics applications. Observers say Itanium-based
servers will be especially suited for today's large enterprise
computing environments with data warehouses and a
requirement for intensive processing for complex queries and
transactions.
Virtually all of the major manufacturers and suppliers of
today's applications, high-end systems, operating systems,
and computer hardware have endorsed Itanium and the IA-64
line of processors. More than 30 Itanium-based systems are
expected to come to the marketplace in 2001. Some reports
indicate that Itanium's IA-64 architecture will own its market
through 2003, at which point some competitive "next-
generation" microprocessors may begin to be seen. This
window of opportunity allows Intel to capitalize on the
popularity of IA-64, and to develop profitable original
equipment manufacturer arrangements with other vendors,
suppliers, and manufacturers in the computer industry.
Itanium and IA-64 also support 32-bit applications.
architecture. Itanium and its successors are being designed to
perform comparably to and compete directly with chips such as
Sun's UltraSparc and Compaq's Alpha.
https://kb.iu.edu/d/ahvi
The Intel® Itanium® Processor 9300 Series, Intel® Itanium®
Processor 9500 Series and Intel® Itanium® Processor 9700
Series employ Explicitly Parallel Instruction Computing
(EPIC) design concepts for a tighter coupling between
hardware and software. In this design style, the interface
between hardware and software is designed to enable the
software to exploit all available compile-time information, and
efficiently deliver this information to the hardware. It
addresses several fundamental performance bottlenecks in
modern computers, such as memory latency, memory
address disambiguation, and control flow dependencies. The
EPIC constructs provide powerful architectural semantics,
and enable the software to make global optimizations across
a large scheduling scope, thereby exposing available
Instruction Level Parallelism (ILP) to the hardware. The
hardware takes advantage of this enhanced ILP, and
provides abundant execution resources. Additionally, it
focuses on dynamic run-time optimizations to enable the
compiled code schedule to flow at high throughput. This
strategy increases the synergy between hardware and
software, and leads to greater overall performance.
The Intel® Itanium® Processor 9300 Series, Intel® Itanium®
Processor 9500 Series and Intel® Itanium® Processor 9700
Series system interface, with its 4 full width and 2 half width
Intel® QuickPath Interconnects, enables each processor to
directly connect to other system components, thus can be
used as an effective building block for very large systems.
The balanced core and memory subsystem provide high
performance for a wide range of applications ranging from
commercial workloads to high performance technical
computing.
The Intel® Itanium® Processor 9300 Series, Intel® Itanium®
Processor 9500 Series and Intel® Itanium® Processor 9700
Series are pin compatible and support a range of computing
needs and configurations from a 2-way to large SMP servers
(although OEM field upgrade methodologies vary). This
document provides the electrical, mechanical and thermal
specifications that must be met when using the Intel®
Itanium® Processor 9300 Series, Intel® Itanium® Processor
9500 Series and Intel® Itanium® Processor 9700 Series in
your systems.

https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/Itanium

Itanium (the brand name for Merced, which was the original code
name) is a 64-bit microprocessor jointly developed by Intel and
Hewlett-Packard. Itanium is manufactured with a 0.18-micron
process and contains tens of millions of transistors.

While Itanium is able to run software written for the x86 processor
architecture, it uses a new architecture, officially known as Intel
Architecture-64 (IA-64). The name IA-64 refers to the fact that
64 bits of data can be processed during one clock cycle. Other Intel
chips are based around a 32-bit architecture. Itanium is a complete
64-bit processor.