InformationWeek
Defining The Business Value Of Technology
March 6, 2000
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Startup's product provides ethernet LAN users with an all-in-one connection to the Web
By Bob Wallace
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new all-in-one Internet gateway device promises to relieve companies of the management hassles involved in supporting multiple networking products. But in exchange for its wide-ranging capabilities, the FoxBox from startup NetWolves Corp. also requires IT managers to make concessions in terms of availability.The FoxBox connects users and resources on Ethernet and Fast Ethernet LANs to the Internet via dial-up, ISDN, dedicated, digital subscriber line, or cable-modem links, depending on the version chosen. It uses a Unix operating system and has proprietary software that provides a range of features typically found in separate products: firewall, encryption, and Web, cache, E-mail, and file server functions. The software also lets it act as a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol or domain name system server. All these features are designed to be easily managed from a graphical interface.
Tanagraphics Inc. is using the FoxBox as a firewall and DNS server to tie IP addresses to its computer systems. "Its simplicity and graphical interface makes it easy and fast to make security changes," says Doug Bressler, network director at the New York graphics and printing firm. "Instead of working on administering changes, our programmers can work on developing products we can sell." Other firewall-only devices use more rudimentary text interfaces for system administration tasks, he says.
"The FoxBox is a simple alternative to buying, linking, and managing multiple systems, which is a drain on companies with a limited IT staff," says Ruth Chatterton, a senior consultant at research firm TeleChoice. Its all-inclusive software should appeal to firms that immediately require a broad range of services and to those that have a few basic needs but want room to grow without adding hardware, she says.
Yet there are shortcomings, Chatterton says. Because the FoxBox is an all-in-one device, it represents a single point of failure for its wide range of services. And there's no way, even on higher-end versions of the device, to establish backup links to the Internet if some problem knocks out the FoxBox's Internet access line.
All five versions of the FoxBox are available now; prices range from $3,400 to $7,100.
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