At the Networks Show in Birmingham yesterday, a deep throat at IBM said we should go look at the Sequent stand. We asked: "Why should we do that," and his reply was: "They're showing Monterey on their machines". This, it appears, could be just one of the reasons why IBM might buy Sequent today or tomorrow. The WSJ reported yesterday that the two companies are in talks, and Sequent has looked increasingly vulnerable ever since Tandem fell to Compaq a while back. Meanwhile, Intel is still looking vulnerable to the Compaq Alpha processor on the eight way front. Earlier this year, Paul Otellini, senior VP at the Intel Corporation, admitted there were still gaps in its product line. Some of those may be filled by Profusion, but Compaq Alpha European manager Richard George confirmed yesterday that the company is still on target for a 1GHz Alpha with copper technology for early next year. According to another source at Compaq, it is already running eight way Wildfire fireboxes. Compaq is sticking with its Alpha platform for the high end and will position IA-64 at the low end, the same source confirmed. ®