An Intel representative would not tell us Friday what tomorrow’s teleconference about IA-64 is about. We will listen to it, when the time comes. But our rivals, news.com, are saying Intel will plunge over $200 million into a scheme tomorrow in a bid to revive interest in the platform. If true, the news represents a tactical move by Intel, which has seen its closest partners, Compaq and Hewlett Packard, edge away from their commitment to Merced. But the PC vendors may be persuaded to put money into the venture, intended to attracts ISVs and IHVs to support Merced and its successors, including McKinley. Since early this year, Intel has sought to recruit up to seventy "Babes in the Wood" to act as engineers on the Merced project, as reported here. Last week, a source at HP in New York told The Register off the record that it would move to McKinley rather than bother with Merced in its plans. And earlier this year, an insider at Compaq told us that those engineers working on Merced had moved to working on its Alpha server platform. We revealed here some weeks ago that Intel has a plan for a consumer version of its IA-64 up its sleeve, so it is vital that the chip giant succeed in getting early revs of the chips accepted by its customers. ® See also Secrets of Intel's IA-64 roadmap revealed