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Posted at 11:39 AM PT, May 18, 1999
Compaq on Monday announced a suite of Internet-focused software and a new Himalaya S72000 server that company officials expect will improve the company's capability to offer complete, large-scale electronic-business solutions.

"What we're really doing is extending the reach of what people know us for -- reliability and scalability -- and broadening our capabilities in an Internet context," said Bob Sawyer, Internet marketing manager at Compaq. "This announcement will be a key building block that isn't going to be the complete [e-business] solution, but when we combine it with Compaq's other products, we have a compelling story."

The software suite announced Monday contains three core components targeted at enabling Compaq's Himalaya servers for Internet-related functions. The first, Compaq's iTP Web Server with Active Transaction Pages, provides server-side Java support for the Himalaya line.

The Compaq NonStop Transaction Server for Java, another new product, is a suite of component-based tools and services that extend the transaction capabilities of the Himalaya line. Transaction Server for Java adds the capability to do Java transactions and run CORBA-compliant Java on Himalaya servers.

Compaq has also licensed ISG Navigator from the ISG International Software Group. ISG Navigator is a middleware solution for incorporating enterprise information into a Web-ready, universal data-access environment. The addition of ISG's navigator will allow customers to access data sources on Himalaya servers directly from a browser, officials said.

In addition to the new software products, Compaq announced a new Himalaya server. The Compaq NonStop Himalaya S72000 features two MIPS RISC R10000 processors running in lockstep, 4MB of Level 2 cache running at 200 MHz, and eight memory slots. The server will be housed in Compaq's S-series chassis, which can hold as many as 16 internal disk drives and stacked in a double-high rack configuration.

Compaq is already shipping the S72000, with prices beginning at $150,000 to $175,000 depending on configuration. The three new software products are also available now, with pricing based on the number of processors and data sources in use.

Compaq Computer Corp., in Houston, is at www.compaq.com.

Michael Lattig is an InfoWorld reporter.