July 21, 2008

All In One Network Appliances. Know Your Options.

All in one network appliances, sold by Microsoft (Small Business Server), Network Integration Technologies (Nitx - now owned by IBM), Novel (Novel Small Business Suite) and other vendors are not new. However, CRN writes that your local solution provider might be re-introducing them to you.

Instead of having servers and appliances (hosted or other wise) for email, web site, file server, network security management and other uses, having one appliance to centrally manage and provide critical network functions is an option. Of course one down side is that if the box fails, everything goes down.

The advantage of having one box is simplicity of management and lower cost of ownership. You also save space and reduce energy consumption.

Computer Reseller News, writing to solution providers, reviews 3 of these network appliances here.

Network appliances might not be for every business, but at least if your computer consultant recommends one to you - you know what he's talking about.

You can see a video of Allworx's CEO. Allworx is one of the companies reviewed by CRN. In this interview the focus is on their telephone products, but it's an interesting video, nevertheless.

tags: appliances , network | 0 comments