Thursday June 3 5:16 PM ET
Compaq: Single-minded focus on appliances
PC Week
By Carmen Nobel, ZDNet
in an age where new technology products strive to be all things to all people, Compaq Computer Corp.
(NYSE:CPQ - news) is readying a high-end server appliance that aims to do only one thing but do it really well.
The Houston company next month will start shipping the TaskSmart C-Series Internet caching server, the first in a new family of
high-end, single-purpose server appliances.
The caching server will be followed by several other server appliances this year, including boxes specifically for file storage,
e-mail, security and virtual private networking, officials said.
The TaskSmart C-Series Server, which sits between the client and the Web server, saves time and network bandwidth by caching
frequently used Web pages so that requests aren't sent all the way back to the Web server.
When working in server mode, the TaskSmart device reduces the load of Web server farms. In the client mode, the appliance
speeds up client Web access and reduces bandwidth traffic.
At just over 5 inches high, the TaskSmart C-Series is geared for space-constrained Internet service providers. The appliance can
be configured and managed with a Java-enabled Internet browser and will integrate with Compaq's Insight Manager system
management software. It also supports SNMP, Telnet and URL filtering.
The server appliance comes embedded with software from Novell Inc. (Nasdaq:NOVL - news) and other companies; Compaq
will provide the servicing for both the hardware and software, company officials said.
Ease of use was critical for TaskSmart beta tester UtahLink, a Salt Lake City organization that manages Web traffic for 650
public schools in Utah.
"The [TaskSmart server] is really easy to install; there's absolutely no user intervention," said Don Porter, manager of network
information for UtahLink. "In a lot of rural parts of the state where I have hub sites, I don't have the expertise on-site to rebuild a
new machine if there's a problem. But with this thing, I can send them a CD and talk them through an installation in about 20
minutes."
Analysts warn that server appliances are not the answer for every application. "The few appliances we see today are in areas ...
[that] are pretty well understood," said Carl Howe, an analyst at Forrester Research Group Inc., in Cambridge, Mass. "But with
e-mail appliances, for instance, folks like Microsoft [Corp.] and the like keep changing what goes into an e-mail server every six
months or so."
TaskSmart servers come in three models. The top-of-the-line C2000R comes with six 9.1GB hot-pluggable hard drives and
redundant hot-pluggable power supplies, 1GB of error-correction-code synchronous dynamic RAM, and five Fast Ethernet ports.
It supports disk cloning and disk mirroring.
Pricing has yet to be announced, but sources close to Compaq said the servers will cost less than $10,000.
Compaq can be reached at (281) 370-0670 or www.compaq.com. |
