Compaq's ActiveAnswers is a Web based knowledge repository that provides information and tools to help you plan, deploy, and operate business solutions. Designed for CIOs, IT managers, VARs, systems integrators, and consultants, ActiveAnswers simplifies solutions to help you achieve faster returns on your IT investments. Compaq business solutions provide the information needed to turn customer, product, and operational data into knowledge—and knowledge into profit. Compaq ActiveAnswers will help you reduce expense, minimize complexity, and speed execution for a wide variety of pre-configured solutions.

Register at www.compaq.com/activeanswers at no charge to enjoy full access and ActiveAnswers community benefits. Compaq ActiveAnswers: Simplify solutions. Accelerate results.

More information about server technology is coming online every day. Vendor sites such as Compaq's ActiveAnswers are good places to start. Many of these sites offer software configuration help as well as information about the hardware itself. There are also a number of sites that review server platforms. The Transaction Processing Council Web site, www.tpc.org, lists benchmarks posted by computer manufacturers along with database and operating system vendors. The good news for most businesses today is that the major vendors, such as Compaq, are also offering pre-configured server systems for purchase over the Web. This reduces the complexities of purchasing, installation, and support.