This CNet article on Intel's possible backup plans to it's Itanium include a possible "32-64" bit version of the Pentium. This hypothetical Pentium would be in place if the Itanium (new architechture) were never to gain acceptace. Of interest regarding the architechture switch:
Few companies have ever successfully switched from one architecture to another. Intel, in fact, attempted to switch from its "x86" architecture, the architecture behind its microprocessors, in the early '80s. Many of the company's best designers were put on the Sierra project, a chip based around a budding new architecture that would succeed the 286 chip, according to Brookwood. In the end, however, the company went with its plan B, an extension of the 286 called the 386. Pat Gelsinger, one of the leaders on the 386 project, has since become Intel's CTO.
Few companies indeed... with Apple being one (if not the only).
