InformationWeek
Defining The Business Value Of Technology
March 27, 2000
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Low-cost Appliances provide smaller companies with web access, e-mail, and network security
By Mitt Jones
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eeping general-purpose servers running smoothly in a business environment is a mixture of science and art. Large companies can easily absorb the cost of retaining a staff of high-tech alchemists up to the task, but the expense can be considerable for many small and midsize businesses. Even larger companies don't always foot the bill for skilled IT personnel at their remote offices. That's why a growing number of emerging enterprises and branch offices are turning to server appliances-also called thin servers-to address the connectivity challenge.The central idea behind thin servers is to keep costs low and reliability high by limiting functionality to one or a few tasks, and by integrating the necessary operating system and software in one preinstalled bundle. Big business has embraced the concept with products such as network-attached storage devices, and Internet caching devices are also catching on. For smaller businesses, however, server appliances are emerging as a sensible solution to another problem-how to easily and efficiently provide E-mail and Internet access to employees, create an intranet site or even an external Web site that can be mirrored to an Internet service provider, and enable firewall security to protect network resources.
Before investigating thin servers, "I couldn't even spell firewall," says Rick Reed, director of information services for World Class Automotive Group in Dallas, which operates three Ford dealerships. But he knew enough to know a firewall was a necessary feature as the company moved onto the Internet. Reed chose Extended Systems Inc.'s ExtendNet 4000 to provide quick and easy Internet access to employees at all three dealerships through a single digital subscriber line or ISDN connection on each device. Previously, only a few employees had Internet access, which was provided by separate dial-up accounts. Built-in firewall features hide World Class' internal network addresses from outside Internet users, ensure that unauthorized Internet applications can't access the device, and verify that all incoming Internet packets were requested by an authorized user.
As system manager for INCA Engineers Inc. in Bellevue, Wash., managing the civil engineering firm's network was part of Loren Bennett's everyday routine, but the Internet was another story. So INCA decided to install an eSoft Inc. Team Internet appliance in each of its three locations; each device uses a single DSL connection to give multiple users easy Internet and E-mail access, Bennett says. The Team Internet hardware and other Internet appliances typically let IT managers restrict employees from accessing nonbusiness-related Internet sites, and block spam mail that could clog up network bandwidth.
Consensus is strong among analysts and vendors alike that the need for simple, low-cost Internet connectivity is driving smaller businesses to embrace thin servers. Full-fledged Windows NT servers and routers "were really built for Fortune 1000 companies, and trying to force-fit those into small business doesn't work," says Scott Stingley, business development manager for the Internet products group of Extended Systems. "They don't have the technical resources to fool with them, or the budget to afford them." Brian Cohen, VP of strategic relations for eSoft, says companies can save $45,000 a year with Internet appliances simply by not having to hire staff to administer a more conventional, complicated product.
Internet appliance vendors uniformly tout their products as simple to install and configure. Proprietary software that sits on top of an operating system such as Linux or FreeBSD guides users through a series of simple setup screens, which are typically accessed using the browser of a connected PC. "We like to say our objective is to be able to get our mothers to do this," says Kelly Herrell, VP of marketing for Cobalt Networks Inc., which makes the Qube Internet access appliance.
Though most of these appliances allow some custom settings to be made through HTML interfaces, they're generally designed to be maintenance- free. In contrast to conventional, open-case servers, thin servers keep hardware and software to a minimum, so that "there are fewer variables, fewer things to go wrong," says Paul Miller, director of product marketing for small and medium business and corporate servers for Compaq, which makes a thin servers, including an Internet caching device (see story below).
Users also like the low up-front cost of thin servers-they often cost as little as $1,500 to $3,000 with support options that most buyers would deem acceptable. "If I didn't go with this solution, I was going to spend $8,000 to $15,000 per general-purpose server to do the same thing," says INCA's Bennett. Thin servers often use the same commodity components found in desktops, which are less expensive than the parts that drive many higher-end servers. Plus, Internet appliances generally allow scaling to 100 users, doing away with the per-seat software costs that can drive up fees for Windows NT Server implementations.
Dataquest estimates that Internet appliance sales more than doubled from 1998 to 1999, to about 26,000-but sales have been slower than some analysts and vendors predicted. Says Bob Frankenburg, CEO of Encanto Networks Inc., which makes the Encanto Web Server, "the challenge is getting people to understand that these small appliances can do as much, in some cases even more, than larger servers at dramatically lower cost." 
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