Digital Equipment has signed a $15 million contract to add travel information to the services available to users of its AltaVista Website.

The deal is one part of AltaVista's campaign to transform itself from a popular Internet search service into an all-purpose gateway to online products and services.

The Trip.com, a travel and lodging service aimed at business travellers, will pay $15 million to be a featured location at the AltaVista Website. A presence on the AltaVista home page could attract some of the site's 20 million regular users. For AltaVista, the deal not only means extra revenue but another reason for Internet users to visit the site. A similar strategy has been pioneered by a number of other Internet search services, such as Yahoo and Lycos.