Sources close to HP's plans said today that the company will release its chipset supporting the Merced platform next month. For the time being at least, HP will maintain its dual strategy of selling HP/UX boxes at the high end and Windows NT servers at the low end. But the sources added that the long-term commitment is to the IA-64 platform, with HP's roadmap, which stretches five years ahead, consistently moving towards that goal. The issue at present, the source said, was that there were still some members of the "old guard" who could not be wrenched away from their attachment to HP/UX and PA-RISC. ®