Hewlett-Packard (HP) has confessed that its contract with Intel for the development of Itanium processors is still in play, confirming Oracle’s previous claim.

HP first evaded Oracle’s claim in court last week that said it has a hush-hush agreement with Intel to go forward on Itanium amid losses.

On Tuesday, HP admitted that a contract does exist between the firm and Intel concerning Itanium processor development.

According to HP’s statement, the binding agreement with Intel will uphold “the robust continued development and supply of new generations of Itanium microprocessors for mission-critical enterprises spanning this decade.”

Intel has yet to comment on the matter but confirmed updates for Itanium within the decade, namely Poulson (2012) and Kittson (2014), both of which will follow the Itanium 9300 (Tukwila) released in 2010.

HP’s statement went forward with Oracle’s claim in mind, asserting that Oracle only unplugged support for the Itanium IA-64 architecture to sell its own Sparc-based processor kit.

The Intel Itanium 9300 "Tukwila" processor. (Image: Konstantin Zamkov (CC), via Flickr)

HP picked apart Oracle, saying, the filing “is nothing more than a delay tactic designed to extend the paralyzing uncertainty in the marketplace created when Oracle announced in March 2011 – in a clear breach of contract – that it would no longer support HP’s Itanium platform.”

HP also said that Oracle’s latest filing plans to run aground customers who use Itanium processors.

“The fact remains that Oracle’s decision to cut off support for Itanium was a calculated business strategy to force Itanium customers into buying Sun servers. This filing is just the latest in its ongoing campaign to shore up its failing Sun server business and strand thousands of existing Itanium customers who rely on their Itanium processors for mission-critical activities,” HP added.

About Francis Rey Balolong

A coffee junkie who spends most of his time writing about the latest news on social media and mobile technology. I would definitely consider myself a nerd (in the coolest most hipster way possible). That being said, I love technology, music, writing, and all things mobile. Follow me: Google+ Twitter

Don’t forget to subscribe and receive our latest posts in your inbox.