Fujitsu Siemens Computers (FSC) has said it is working with Intel to customise the Itanium 64bit chip for an enterprise Linux server, due in 2006.

The duo will add features such as instruction-retry now seen only in proprietary high-end Unix systems. The aim is to boost reliability and availability. FSC already offers a similarly customised Sparc chip. The project could help Intel differentiate Itanium from Xeon chips with 64bit extensions.

FSC technology chief Joseph Reger said there is growing interest in Linux for high-end applications. "However, customers in the banking industry are asking, 'How am I going to provide high-end mission-critical capability on Linux?'" he added.