A host of IT vendors are jumping on the Web-based services bandwagon as hardware vendors realize the additional margins available from helping companies manage hardware from PCs to printers.

Compaq, Dell, Hewlett-Packard (HP), IBM, and Altiris have all detailed plans for the market at a time when Xerox recently announced CentreWare Web Printer Administration software, designed to allow IT departments to manage network printing devices via Web browsers. The collected offerings include everything from consulting to online system upgrades and crisis alerts, and are available to companies as large as Ford Motor and as small as individual entrepreneurs. The services reflect vendor belief that customers respond to products offering easy-to-access services, said Mike Maples, co-founder of Motive Communications in Austin, Texas, which works with vendors to embed services in their products. Moving to better personalize Web services, Compaq is preparing to launch what a Compaq representative called Compaq Customer Advantage Gateways. The Gateways offer Web-based, personalized programs to deliver enterprise business, e-procurement, and other services to customers. Compaq offers interactive chat rooms for business employees to exchange ideas, questions, and concerns in real-time via the Internet. Dell, which closed its Dell Marketplace Web service project less than a year ago with the belief that Internet users were not ready for such an online service offering, is restructuring it Premier Enterprise Support Service to address PC and laptop clients. Meanwhile, HP is offering Web-based printer management service through its Web JetAdmin service. Web JetAdmin affords HP customers such as Ford Motor the option of managing, diagnosing, and configuring thousands of printers working within Ford's computer network from remote offices via a secure Internet browser, according to HP representatives.