Already well-diversified on the hardware front, Hewlett-Packard wants to do more with E-commerce. Company execs said today that HP is moving strongly into the portal, application service provider, and marketplace businesses. The company has had other E-commerce initiatives, but the breadth of this latest push surprised some industry observers.

"We are revitalizing HP's strategies around the Internet," said HP E-services president Nick Earle, referring to new product offerings through partnerships with BroadVision Inc. and Moai Technologies Inc., as well as the formation of a new consulting group within HP (stock: HWP).

The company outlined four projects:

- In the next 30 days, HP will ship portal-building software called HP Enterprise Business Portal Solution. Created jointly with BroadVision, the software will provide integrated gateways to a customer's systems for business content, commerce, and collaboration

- It will extend its auction and dynamic-pricing capabilities. HP teamed with Moai to integrate Moai's LiveExchange software into HP's portal products. HP also has taken an equity stake in Moai.

- HP is creating HP Channels on Tap, an ASP that will let customers buy HP-hosted services through resellers such as Solutions.com and CSDev.

- The company says it will build "a new consulting practice and devote 1,000 HP employees to the group."

One analyst believes HP is in the right spot. Tony Adams, a senior analyst with Gartner Group, says, "I was blown away by how futuristic the design and implementation of their portals were. If they pass that technology along to their customers, they will give them one of the best, solid definitions of a portal out there."