Many of us have noticed the transition of desktop and server manufacturers from 32-bit based systems to those that run 64-bit. In fact currently you will have to do a lot of digging to find a system that is 32-bit. 32-bit based versions of operating systems such as Windows and Linux variants can run on 64-bit hardware but the opposite is not true. For a number of years the major operating system companies have been offering consumers and businesses the option of choosing either 32-bit or 64-bit versions. It appears that this trend may soon be coming to an end.

Additionally many major application releases in the past several years have been available in 64-bit versions only and require the underlying operating system to also be running 64-bit. The list of software that is available strictly in a 64-bit version is getting longer.

There are definitely PROS and CONS to the migration to 64-bit technology. The majority of the CONS are based on up front restrictions in the inability to upgrade your 32-bit operating system builds. In most cases the migration will be just that, a migration utilizing a fresh install of the 64-bit operating system. In environments where there are dozens to hundreds of servers, this will be quite time consuming and in a lot of cases impossible based on legacy applications. Many of us already support legacy applications on legacy operating systems and in a lot of the cases there’s not too much to alleviate that. There are technologies that do make this type of legacy support much easier to deal with including different virtualization solutions.

Another small CON that has lessened over time is the unavailability of 64-bit drivers for peripherals. When 64-bit systems were first being sold there were many instances where drivers simply were not available for 64-bit systems much like when a new operating system is released. This is not a significant issue these days as most peripheral manufacturers have seen the writing on the wall about the proliferation of 64-bit systems.

So, why should I bother migrating to a 64-bit version of an operating system? Well, in the case of Microsoft and likely with the Linux systems, support will eventually come to an end. Most of us have learned over the years how valuable vendor support for an operating system can be. This shows up mainly in cases of security vulnerabilities and patches. Anything we can do to mitigate our vulnerabilities is wise.

In addition to risk of ending vendor support there are some real performance advantages in running 64-bit operating systems, applications, and hardware. For most single application server builds this increase in performance will not be noticeable as the performance increase is really only witnessed on systems that are CPU or memory bound. The biggest beneficiary of the 64-bit performance boost is Virtualization Hosts. Because in most cases the goal of virtualization projects is to consolidate physical servers, the better the virtual host resources perform in the case of 64-bit systems, the more load you can put on them. This equates to a higher consolidation ratio which in turn equates to lower cost!

So, if you do have the option now, choose to install a 64-bit operating system. In the long run it will save you time and money especially when the day comes that you don’t have an option.