A big-budget press event in San Francisco has seen Hewlett Packard Co launch an aggressive campaign to be recognized as an e-commerce player. Tactics include the forging of an alliance with Cisco Systems Inc over new quality-of-service software, the announcement of an e-commerce package and various snide comments directed at rivals IBM Corp and Sun Microsystems Inc. HP’s WebQoS is designed to guarantee quality of service for ten- million-dollar customers, who apparently risk shameful neglect when they visit internet storefronts running existing technology. The first WebQoS product, HP ServiceControl, lets IT managers set classes of users and services. Cash transactions can be given priority over mere inquiries, for example, while potential buyers can be singled out from the common herd and treated to better service. In a bid to prevent shutdowns from ‘flash crowds’ – unexpected floods of users – HP has also built in ‘peak usage management’, which balances heavy loads across multiple machines. The collaboration with Cisco Systems Inc should make WebQoS interoperate with CiscoAssure Policy Networking, Cisco’s equivalent product for network devices. Businesses should then be able to control quality of service from their back-office systems all the way across the network and up to their customer’s browser. The forthcoming Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) also includes quality of service provisions. Where the two initiatives differ is in IPv6’s prioritized traffic handling being an open spec, mainly intended for time-dependent media. By contrast, the products from HP and Cisco reflect broader industry moves to privatize public spaces on the internet and to create first-, business- and economy-class web users. HP and Cisco may also want to lock buyers into proprietary systems. At present WebQoS runs only under HP-UX, with a Windows NT port planned for some future date. As well as WebQoS, HP has unveiled an integrated package for e- commerce. The package is called the HP Domain Commerce platform and consists of an HP9000 Enterprise Server loaded with Netscape Enterprise Server, HP ServiceControl, VeriFone’s virtual Point of Sale (vPOS) internet payment system and HP’s OpenPix imaging. Optional extras include HP’s Virtual Vault and e-commerce products from Open Market, iCat, Intershop and BroadVision. The final prong of HP’s e-commerce initiative seems to be a war of words against rivals IBM, which according to HP throws hardware at the problem without addressing root causes, and Sun Microsystems, said to be simply absent. Whether there’s more to HP’s e-commerce strategy than sound, fury and new packaging for existing products is now a matter for the market to decide.
