Sequent Computer scores big with AT&T software pact. (AT&T Unix System Laboratories contracts with Sequent Computer Systems Inc.)

Sequent Computer scores big with AT&T software pact

In a big victory for Sequent Computer Systems, the Beaverton company has been tapped by AT&T's Unix System Laboratories to lead a prestigious software development effort. Sequent and AT&T engineers will work together for the next two years to create a UNIX operating system for multi-processor computers, a relatively small but fast-growing sector of the computer industry.

"This is definitely a feather in the cap of Sequent," said stock analyst Neil Weintraut, of Hambrecht & Quist in San Francisco. "It's a tribute to their technology and to where they'll be in the future."

The agreement will give Sequent an intimate working knowledge of what eventually will be the standard …