A sense of chagrin seemed likely to kick in at Compaq's HQ in Houston today as it realises the extent of the manufacturing deals Big Blue has struck so far this year. Except that Compaq has just signed a deal with mystery firm Celestica, according to our sources. A really funny but true fact is that Celestica was a division of IBM, now spun off. Look here, if you doubt it in the slightest... In the natural process of things, Celestica also became very close to ICL. Almost a sort of partner (see below). Big Blue signed a big deal with Taiwanese company Acer last Friday, complementing the deal it made with Dell earlier on in the year. But Celestica, a former ICL subsidiary, as well as a Big Blue spinoff, seems set to grin like a Cheshire Cat as sources close to Compaq tell The Register it may grab most, if not all, of the Houston company's assembly plants. It's all a bit like famous RAID company Xyratex. Celestica has stayed in the background for the last two years, cognisant of the fact that for large PC manufacturers, assembly is no longer the name of the game, it being expensive, time consuming and the rest. Quietly, Celestica has bought up all sorts of assembly operations worldwide and is perhaps the quietist of the scene. Nevertheless, it winning Compaq's business is a coup and it is likely Big Blue will turn into Big Green when it sees the size of the big win. ®