MAX AWARDS: THE ENVELOPE PLEASE ...
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Because we tested more than one type of remote access device in this Remote Access Lab Test, we chose our Max Award winners according to product type, because the server products that support a collection of analog lines are dramatically different from the routers that may support only a single digital line. Although both allow remote dial-in and dial-out, the way they work, the services they provide, and the way you work with them simply aren't comparable.
The Max Award for the router category goes to Rockwell Network Systems' NetHopper. Not only was this by far the easiest of the entire group to set up and run with its interview-based configuration, but this also was backed up by a complete and detailed set of documentation that truly stood out from the competition. More important, however, the NetHopper was consistently reliable. Call setup time was nearly instantaneous; the NetHopper kept both B channels up for the full duration of every call, and it offered a good selection of both management and security capabilities.
For servers, the Max Award goes to U.S. Robotics Inc.'s NetServer/8. This multiline analog server was easy to set up and manage, robust in its operation, and offered a number of features, including SNMP management support, call accounting, dynamic port sharing and individualized firewall support that could let you use the product from supporting remote offices to operating as the front end for an Internet service provider. Overall, an impressive piece of equipment.
We're also awarding an Honorable Mention to ChatCom Inc.'s ChatPower Plus. This product takes remote access to new heights, and it operates on a fundamentally different concept than anything else in this test. Although the product is expensive, it's also unparalleled in the depth of its management capabilities. On the other hand, setup is sufficiently complex; the company usually needs to send along an engineer to make sure things go well. But for industrial strength communication needs--or other server uses, for that matter--ChatCom is hard to beat. |
