Among the new ActiveAnswers resources are ready-to-deploy security infrastructures, including firewalls, virtual private networks, and virus scanning done on the server. Compaq says the service representatives it's putting in new divisions for E-business consulting, integration, infrastructure, architecture, support, and outsourcing will help companies rapidly implement its Internet solutions in the most cost-effective way.

"The 7,000 people are certified Microsoft engineers working on next-generation projects," says Steve Kirchoff, VP of strategic marketing for Compaq. "We're getting them all focused on these NonStop eBusiness implementations." Companies can also choose to implement ActiveAnswers packages themselves or turn to channel integrators, says Kirchoff.

As with all ActiveAnswers offerings, the new E-commerce bundles are built on Compaq hardware: Tandem NonStop clusters, Digital OpenVMS clusters, and ProLiant Windows NT servers that share NonStop and OpenVMS technology. Kirchoff says the combination of this high-availability technology, including failover capabilities, and ActiveAnswers' best-practices implementations will result in E-business architectures designed for round-the-clock uptime.

Compaq ProLiant customer Jeffrey Burke, senior engineering project manager for Quokka Sports Inc., an Internet content provider of sports information in San Francisco, is looking forward to working with Compaq as an end-to-end provider of hardware and services. "I'm very familiar with overrun on contract-based consulting," he says.

Quokka needs turnkey solutions that can be up and running quickly, and Burke says "the new Compaq services give me a comfort level to move forward and reduce the number of people I have to hire."