Sources close to HP's plans have told The Register that the company will release its chipset supporting the Merced platform next month.

The Register reports that HP will maintain its dual strategy of selling HP/UX boxes at the high end and Windows NT servers at the low end. However, HP's long-term commitment is to the IA-64 platform, the sources said, with HP's five-year roadmap consistently moving towards that goal.

The story is posted online at http://www.theregister.co.uk .