The middleman is setting up shop on the Internet.

"A lot of people don't use the Web directly. They use it through an intermediary ... agents that will find things for you, help you purchase things," said Andy Lippman, associate director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab.

Nicole Vanderbilt, director of digital commerce at Jupiter Communications, a research group, says "very potent intermediaries" are coming to the fore in the auto, real estate and insurance industries, for example.

The inventory is being brought together so consumers can comparison-shop.

She mentions realtor.com, which brings together each of the regional multiple-listing services. There are carpoint.com and autobytel.com, which markets autos. And insweb.com, where insurance quotes are available.

Geri Spieler, research analyst, the Gartner Group, said Web developers are building and maintaining purchasing and procurement sites for businesses.

Web commerce, according to a Gartner report, is "pushing enterprises to allow consumers or business customers to have immediate and interactive access to information about products, contract prices, inventory levels and availability, and status of delivery."

 1. Dynamic HTML
 2. New Domains
 3. Metered Bandwidth
 4. Web-TV
 5. Rich Ads
 6. The Big Chill
 7. Middlemen
 8. Digital Detente
 9. Cybercommerce
10. Web standards

 1. Push
 2. Windows CE
 3. 56K
 4. Cable Modem
 5. Web-TV
 6. Net Magazines
 7. Apple's Demise
 8. Mac Clones
 9. E-Cash
10. Comdex '96