January 26, 1998 Edge Serve rs Gain An Edge Units offer easier remote access and simplified network management By By Teri Robinson he market for edge servers-multifunctional boxes that combine routing, switching, and remote-access capabilities-is extending beyond telecom carriers and Internet service providers. A growing number of corporate users are turning to these devices for improved, less expensive remote access to their enterprises. These servers, which sit between LANs and WANs, move critical functions such as E-mail, intranets, and security closer to the user. They also eliminate the need for high-priced private lines, and simplify network management. This is particularly helpful as companies take advantage of advances in broadband technology, increase their use of the Internet, and expand the number of remote us ers taxing less-distributed setups. Home health care provider Advanced Home Care, for example, didn't want to burden its PBX with remote access services as the agency expanded its traveling nursing staff. "We wanted to keep telecom separate from remote access services," says Richard Foust, the company's IS administrator. "We were looking for something to integrate with our system and provide expandability as we grow." The agency turned to 3Com Corp.'s EdgeServer last year to let its 50 nurses collect medical data on notebook computers and relay it back to its Greensboro, N.C., home office. The nurses also can access schedules and other information they need as they work remotely. Net result for AHC: lower costs as it has eliminated telephone lines, Foust says. Edge servers are critical to companies where remote workers do important tasks, says Jeremy Duke, research director at In-Stat, a Scottsdale, Ariz., research firm. The remote access server market hit $1.9 billion in 1997, up from $1.5 billio n in 1996, he estimates. "Remote access is becoming a strategic asset," Duke says. "As the Internet grows on the enterprise, the remote access piece becomes more important." Edge servers can cut communications costs by as much as half, analysts say. "Changes in cell-based or digital technology like ISDN and frame relay mean you can use edge servers to get the same bandwidth and reliability of leased lines and pay more like a dialup line," says Stephen Mank, VP of marketing and business development for edge server vendor Xyplex Networks in Littleton, Mass. Edge servers can also save money by consolidating many remote access functions into one box. "A single box is simpler, more reliable, more easily managed, and typically costs less than a multiple box solution," says Michael Howard, president of Infonetics Research Inc. in San Jose, Calif. Edge servers range in price from $30,000 to $100,000, depending on chassis configuration. Working offsite-at home, in hotels, or in branch offices-has become so common that many companies rely on Internet tools to make remote access to enterprise resources more intuitive. Initially, vendors "smashed" intranets and remote access together into RAS concentrators, says Xyplex's Mank. But corporate needs have grown. "Instead of low-speed casual connections, companies want to run high-speed links for mission-critical applications," Mank says. "Large branch offices need T1-E1 speed and might not run leased lines. They need a solution that offers more bandwidth and horsepower, and deals with more complexity, but is transparent to the user." As Close As Possible Brian Grundei, product manager at 3Com, says the company has seen increased demand to get more applications "up on the edge," or as close to the user as possible. "When applications are run at the edge, it's easier to get software out to the remote user," he says. Edge servers can solve another big remote access problem: I/O constraints. "They function as mini-LANs to remove the I/O bottlenecks," Grundei says. These all-in-one boxes also take up less real estate. Most vendors offer standalone and integrated units in different packages. Bay Networks, for one, favors a chassis system with a modular build for its 5000 MultiService Access Switch, says Rohit Mehra, marketing manager at Bay. A single 5000 MSX can accommodate 12 remote access concentrators and support 24 WAN ports and 576 modems. The company also offers an eight-foot cabinet in which a customer, usually a telco, Internet service provider, or large enterprise, can install as many as four MSX chassis. Some vendors are moving away from the standard chassis design used in other servers. Xyplex's Edge-Blaster 9000, for instance, is a chassis-based system with a stackable design. "It's a dynamic environment, and customers want to be light on their feet," says Xyplex's Mank. "Big chassis are great if all the customers are as big as UUNet or AT&T." On the other hand, 3Com's EdgeServer Pro is only 9.7 inches high. All the traditional se rver and switch vendors are expanding their positions in the edge server market via mergers, acquisitions, and alli- ances. 3Com, for example, has acquired modem maker U.S. Robotics. Ascend has snapped up switching vendor Cascade. "If you diagram it, you would have three or four bubbles-the switching guys, the transmission guys, the modem guys. Now those bubbles overlap," says Mank. Xyplex is using partnerships to gain leverage, such as plans to blend Microcom's eight-port 56-Kbps modem with Xyplex's EdgeBlaster. Analysts expect customer demand for edge servers to grow as more enterprises move to Windows NT, expand remote access services, and take on a host of functions such as transaction processing and videoconferencing. Southern Methodist University in Dallas is among those planning to move to an edge server. The university provides free Internet access to students, faculty, and staff, using Bay Networks remote access service concentrators. Initially, SMU deployed a single 64-port server, and has added two 72-port servers and five 38-port servers to handle more than 10,000 accounts, says Rich Andrews, senior Unix administrator at the school. "We started with very basic remote access servers," he says. "We wanted accountability, reliability, security, and high connection speeds." The university will deploy edge servers soon to meet growing and more complex user demand, Andrews adds. `We had no clue as to how popular this was going to be," he says. "We're providing the things that any ISP would." Back to News in Review Send Us Your Feedback Top of the Page

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