SMB IT | Curtis Franklin » May 2006

May 31, 2006 | Comments: (0)

More Options for Small Biz Security Cams

TAGS: SMB Hardware

Did a review of the Lukwerks cams a little while ago--wireless cams, real cheap with ability to show an image on a cell phone. Not bad, but you had to get them direct from Lukwerks.

Cisco's decided to get into that market, and this baby you can get at BestBuy. They're marketing it via the Linksys' brand, but they still can't come up with an interesting name. It's called the Wireless-G Pan/Tilt/Zoom Video Camera. That's like me introducing myself as Oliver Tall Pasty Geek Alone Rist. Put a little imagination in there.

Aside from the name, however, this thing looks good. Pan/Tilt/Zoom cams are generally expensive (Axis, for instance, might sell you one for $600 or more), but the Linksys deal goes for $250 per cam on the street.

Stats include MPEG-4, up to 640x480 resolution, support for varying bandwidth, motion detection with email alerts and the ability to handle 10 simultaneous voyeurs. Not bad.

Just make sure that security cam WiFi network is on its own VLAN and that the stream is protected. Otherwise, they're pretty easy to jam.

Posted by Oliver Rist on May 31, 2006 10:16 PM

May 30, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Emerging Enterprise Podcast

TAGS: Podcast

How do big technology companies define SMBs? And why don't I agree with them? That's part one. After that we talk about ClamWin Anti-Virus and why I'm so impressed with it.   Listen!

Posted by Oliver Rist on May 30, 2006 07:39 AM

May 25, 2006 | Comments: (0)

FCC Can Impose Net Neutrality Today

TAGS: SMB Tech & The Law

According to a story in Multichannel News by Ted Hearn, FCC commissioner Michael Copps has announced that he feels all this legal wrangling on the Hill is unnecessary. Copps says that the FCC has all the authority it needs under current law to impose a Net Neutrality policy that would ensure that cell carriers and Web broadband providers can't discriminate against Web content providers, Web application hosters and search engine services.

Unfortunately, while Copps is the FCC commissioner, the FCC's chairman, Kevin Martin, doesn't favor a regulatory approach to Net Neutrality. That genius wants to deregulate everything and see what happens even though it's become patently obvious what will happen -- tiered pricing and content restrictions aimed specifically at discriminating at a wide variety of Web businesses and even Web users.

I hope Copps gets his way and gets it soon, but the House Judiciary Committee is getting ready to vote tomorrow on the Sensenbrenner bill that would punish Net Neutrality violations. Not sure how that's going to work since no rules for Net Neutrality compliance have yet to be ratified, but I suppose it's a step in the right direction.

Maybe.

Posted by Oliver Rist on May 25, 2006 12:27 PM

May 24, 2006 | Comments: (0)

A Conversation with Oracle on SMB

TAGS: SMB Applications

So if it's one company I simply never associated with the SMB space, it's Oracle. Might have something to do with having to sit through several Oracle purchasing meetings and always starting off somewhere in seven figures. Well, Oracle has changed and to help me change with it, the company put me on the phone with Lenley Hensarling (vice president, application product strategy group) and Willie Hardie (senior director of database product marketing). And we talked SMB.

SMB IT: Why is your SMB marketing message so quiet?
Oracle Guys: We need to work on the strength of our marketing message. We'll own that. But the fact is that Oracle has been focusing tightly on the SMB market not just with product announcements but with new initiatives with our partner channel, too. And we're not taking our foot off the gas here anytime soon.

SMB IT: How do you define SMB?
OG: We generally think of them as $500 million or less.

SMB IT: $500 million in annual revenue?...!
OG: Yes.

SMB IT: Okay. [swallows a shot of Cuervo] So what's your SMB roadmap?
OG: We put out Oracle 10g back in January of 2004. A few months later we announced a co-marketing deal with Dell [ed: a big SMB channel partner] and also put out the new Oracle Application Server 10g vesion 1 to give the product line a standard set of middleware. That takes us into 2005. Then, a few months ago, we introduced a low-cost bundle of the database and app server that sells for a base cost of $238. Certainly of interest to SMBs. And this summer, we're putting out a business intelligence product suite, which will have a specific SMB version available at the same time.

SMB IT: Well that's SMB. So what are the specs on this lowcost version of 10g?
OG: For one thing, the $238 is for the bundle. If you just want the 10g database you can get it for as little as $149. That's for a fully functional version limited to two CPUs. But we've not only kept the full product functionality, we've added significant ease of installation. Instead of needing an expert to install your database, you now just have to answer a couple of parameter questions and then click "Start". 10g will install itself.

And if the $149 two-CPU version is still too expensive, we also came out with 10g Express Edition earlier this year. This is a fully-functioning single-CPU version that's completely free. It's not really aimed at businesses, however, more at developers and education.

SMB IT: Sounds like you really have done some product-side work on attracting SMB customers.
OG: Yeah, and you can tell. According to our numbers, fully 60% of standard edition 10g customers are new customers.

SMB IT: Okay. But I still have a gut reaction that always equates you guys with enterprise. Especially, your associated applications.
OG: Well that's a three-to-four yeear old market perception, and we need to work on changing it. But I think we definitely already have on the technology side. We think it's actually significantly easier to install and run ERP applications on our platform than on Microsoft's. With them you need BizTalk, AD, SharePoint, IIS, Identity Server and more. With us, you just need the database, the app server, a compatible Web server and that's it. We do ID management through LDAP and a BPAL solution to talk to third-party applications.

We've even added an eBusiness Suite for installing the ERP products, which is spcifically aimed at smaller customers with less in-house IT expertise. The new Suite uses accelerator technology for deployment--JD Edwards uses a similar thing. Deployment is based on answering a series of business questions and then runs mostly automated. We've had customers go live with this Suite in around 90 days start to finish.

SMB IT: Well, it sounds like you've done real work on the SMB technology goods, but you need to work on the marketing message.
OG: And we're doing that. You'll see a highly targeted ad campaign beginning in the next couple of months. We're aiming it at companies below $100 million in revenue, so right in the SMB area.

SMB IT: [Thinking while drinking] Wish my SMB did $100 million.

Posted by Oliver Rist on May 24, 2006 10:03 AM

May 23, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Dell Pumps Up Precision Line

TAGS: SMB Hardware

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Dell visited me in New York City again last week for a pre-release meeting covering changes they're announcing to the Precision workstation line today. Never mind that I work in New Jersey. And that they didn't bring T-shirts or USB drives or stuffed animals or strippers. And never mind that I STILL haven't gotten my Precision M90 review unit.

But that's all water under the bridge. Yup. No way I'd hold that against them in the future. Not me. I'm a sweet, fair and totally unbiased guy. Ask anyone.

Instead, they brought a really exciting PowerPoint presentation, which is definitely just as good as a chatcki or silicone. Yup.

Anyway, the PowerPoint summed up some new additions to the Precision workstation line: The Precision 490 and 690. Think sleeker, faster and...faster.

Sleeker because it's a cool word and because the new Precisions have new cases. These have been optimized for cooling and convenience with front-mounted inputs, as well as front-mounted diagnostic and network link lights. Additionally, they can be rack- or tower-based and Dell took this one step further: You can rotate the drive cage to match case orientation. So if it's going from floor to rack, you can actually rotate the drive cage 90 degrees--and even the Dell logo rotates, which is what was worrying me the most.

Faster (1) because they're getting bumped up to the new Xeon 5000 series (codename Dempsey) when they come out this month and then get bumped again in a few weeks to the Xeon 5100 series (codename Woodcrest) when that becomes generally available in early summer.

The Dell guys summed up the positives here real nicely: the new Xeons use shorter pipelines but more of them combined with slower clock speeds with up to three times the final throughput of existing Xeons. So you're looking at going from about 6.4GB/sec with today's Xeons to about 21.2GB/sec with a 5100. Way faster.

Faster (2) because the Xeon 5000/5100 also get an upgraded memory architecture. This means they can use faster DDR2 memory via a new technology called, 'fully-buffered DIMMs'. Faster. Along with that they get double the memory channels--from dual to quad. Again, faster. And finally, Dells upped total available system RAM to 32GB. Way, way faster. Even better, if you opt for an optional Memory Riser Card on the high-end 690 box, you can go all the way to 64GB of system RAM. So fast, I'm bleeding.

For CAD and graphics guys, you can get even more speedfeed, by opting for Dell's optional nVidia-based SLI video card arrangement. That's two high-end nVidia graphics cards running in tandem via an SLI-based interconnect. Screaming video speed--but at a significant price hike considering that these cards by themselves can run over $1000.

Other good news includes support for SATA and SAS drives off the motherboard as well as better power consumption since the Xeon 5000/5100s are slated to eat only 65watts vs. the existing Xeon munch factor of 100watts.

If the 490/690's power potential has you drooling, then check out Dell's product pages on these babies. Here, you'll be able to access a list of certified third-party software applications that Dell has tested to make sure they operate perfectly with these new workstations. (Check the links under Vertical Markets down on the left.) You'll even get your own Precision-smart tech support staff in case anything goes wrong.

Check 'em out.

Posted by Oliver Rist on May 23, 2006 12:30 PM

May 19, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Review: Acer Aspire 9500

TAGS: SMB Hardware

Acer sent me an Aspire 9500 about three months ago. I've been putting off reviewing it because as soon as this goes up, I pretty much have to send it back. Acer's billed it as an all-in-one business and multimedia machine. But I guess we're not on the same page as to what a business notebook should be.

To me, a biz notebook is purchased because the employee using it needs to move. Mobility should be job one. In that the Aspire 9500 really isn't much of a winner at 8.5 pounds with a 17-inch footprint. But as several readers and clients have informed me: not everyone thinks as I do. Plenty of executives like the sleek look of a multimedia notebook. Plenty of power and very little need to move it in real life. Just sleek looks, as much power as a you can stuff into a notebook chassis and loads of bells, whistles and doodads. And for that, this thing ROCKS!

I was a little skeptical about the 9500 because I'd reviewed another Acer just prior to receiving the 9500. The TravelMate 4062WLCi was a real nice value-oriented SMB laptop that worked fine, but its wireless adapter cut out very quickly and then it suffered a hard disk failure a few weeks after the review came out. Acer responded that it was an engineering sample, not really a full production unit so reliabiity wouldn't be quite the same. Nevertheless, I wanted to beat on the 9500 a little bit to be sure that hardware reliability on the previous model was really a fluke.

And it was. I took my 9500 all over the place--even though it barely fits into my notebook backpack. It's a little heavy, but far less than other 17-inch footprint laptops. I had a VoodooPC Envy last year, for example, also a 17-inch footprint and that thing weighed slightly over 10 pounds. Now that can give you shoulder strain.

But the Acer 9500 still isn't a lightweight--about 8.5 pounds. Still too heavy for lots of traveling--but I've already been over that. For a mostly desktop-bound notebook, the 9500 is great, and it packs an amazing hardware spec sheet: 2.0GHz Pentium M CPU, 2GB of RAM (as-tested), an ATI Mobility X700 graphics system and a really sweet 17-inch screen that's made all the more glossy by Acer's CrystalBrite screen technology.

But there are more hardware gooides: 5-in-1 memory card reader, DVI as well as S-Video ports, a slot-loading DVD drive, 802.11b/g, Bluetooth, and some nice attention paid to case design. For one thing, the case is designed to get you quick access to specific Windows XP Media Center features (which is what this puppy runs), I/O functions are located in easily accessible places, separate hardware buttons allow you to turn WiFi or Bluetooth on or off to save battery life.

On the basis of travel reliability, I was pleasantly surprised. I always have a gut instinct that these super-duper decked out multimedia notebooks don't stand up well to the stresses of real-life travel. But the 9500 has yet to let me down. My screen's stayed bright, no hard disk or power adapter issues and the WiFi adapter has connected to every public hot spot and private WiFi access point I've come across. No complaints other than my wireless range could have been better. This one likes to be close to whatever wireless AP it's talking to.

Performance is--obviously--stellar. I dragged everything onto this thing just to see what would happen. Multi-part network diagrams in Visio, large workbooks of business Excel spreadsheets, several Web site design projects in FrontPage 2003. Everything ran with the same performance I'd expect of my desktop box. Even had a J2EE application installed for demo purposes along with Apache and Tomcat and that ran without a hiccup as well. Then I got mean and added games.

Doom 3 ran like a charm. Once I finished that, I dropped Call of Duty 2 onto the 9500 and even that came through without a hitch. Just ran. Wound up playing that most of the plane ride when I was in first class. Made my neighbor with the ultralight Toshiba a little jealous. HA! Another nice thing for travelers is that the Aspire 9500 runs on Windows XP Media Center Edition. (Even has a TV remote.) So downloading video content for a long trip was simply a matter of hooking it up my office television and scheduling a six or seven hours of shows I was going to miss anyway. Just remember that playing them back requires a first or business class airplane seat.

Last thing I'll gush over: The price. Let's just say that the Voodoo I had ran similarly in the performance department and cost well over $4000 as a base. The Aspire 9500, on the other hand, starts at about $1600 for our tested configuration. That just blew me away. If you're into a big multimedia notebook with PVR capabilities, this is one that'll definitely fit into your budget.

Aspire 9500
Acer America
Price: $1650 (as tested)
Verdict: It's lighter than most 17-inch footprint multimedia behemoths, but this jobbie still isn't really meant to be a traveler. But for as an excellently priced all-in-one multimedia, work and gaming notebook, the Acer Aspire 9500 is right at the top of my list.

Posted by Oliver Rist on May 19, 2006 02:14 PM

May 18, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Emerging Enterprise Podcast

TAGS: Podcast

We're on a Web applications kick this episode, discussing the validity of social networking to the business set as well as what we'd like to see out of all these new "Web Office" application portals.   Listen!

Posted by Oliver Rist on May 18, 2006 07:38 AM

May 17, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Office On the Web: HyperOffice

TAGS: Worthwhile Web Sites

There are a number of team-tool/collaboration sites on the Internet. But many of them fall short when you really try and toss some work at them. Probably not the case with HyperOffice, however. At least it better not be, based on its features and price.

First off, it's really three products instead of one. The team collaboration tools are one bit, then there's the portal-based document management and finally, there's full MS Exchange email hosting (mostly).

The email hosting bit seems to be done via an Exhange killer product on the back side. HyerOffice is very careful to offer its' email hosting service as a 'low-cost alternative' to full Exchange hosting. However, the features that HyperOffice lists pretty much cover what an actual Exchange hoster would provide: custom domain management, IMAP or POP3, Outlook synchonization, shared Outlook calendars, shared Outlook contacts and even a Sharepoint-type feature. All that Outlook-compatible functionality at a below-Exchange price points to Exchange killer platforms like Scalix or Gordano. HyperOffice doesn't detail what it's using, but fortunately, our testing experiences with these products have been pretty darn good.

And that's just the email part. HyperOffice also has a slew of other services, including a pretty flexible collaboration tool kit. Shared document editing, versioning, storage--the usual trifecta. But this time combined with something that HyperOffice calls "interlinking"--an ability that sounds suspiciously like hyperlinking, but lets users tie together all documents in a project--even emails and notes.

Finally, HyperOffice also manages the full intranet load. Custom design tools, extranet integration, and customer portals. Everything's marketed with an 'alternative-to-Microsoft' approach, pitting these features against Sharepoint. Seeing some examples, it seems to work well enough, though I'm going to doubt it's as easy as Sharepoint.

Pricing for HyperOffice is actually one of its better features. Group size starts as small as 2 persons for a monthly charge of $18 all the way to 250 people for $1370/month. Team storage is assigned with these plans beginning at 200MB for 2 people up to 25GB for 250 people. But if your particular project requires more than the basic storage, HyperOFfice will sell you more space for $3.00 per additional 100MB.

Add it all up and it's a compelling portfolio of Web services for the SB set. Even better is the ability it has to let you grow from SB to MB and up without necessarily sacrificing the tool kit to which your employees have grown accustomed. All the MS Office integration on the client side is really just gravy in comparison.

Always wonder, tho, why this type of all-in-one-office-tool site doesn't also bundle voice services. Voicemail, fax services and even VoIP would seem a natural extension, no?

Posted by Oliver Rist on May 17, 2006 10:21 AM

May 16, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Beware the Free Blogging Sites

TAGS: SMB Applications

Marketing guys love blogs. "Blog this, blog that, blog your way to business success." Everyone wants a blog.

Best part is they're easy to setup. Fill in a few questions, make some basic graphic choices and then just start blogging stuff up. Easy peasy.

Even better than best is...they're free. That's right. MSN Spaces, Blogger, even MySpace--and there's plenty more. They're completely free. Just sign up and deal with a banner ad or two and that's all it'll cost you.

Okay enough fluff. That's the sales spiel that most of us hear and believe. But as loyal reader Kiltak discovered, it's not always that way. Kiltak is the proud owner of the excellently named Geeks Are Sexy blog. It's well written by guys who know what they're talking about and--most important--often link back to my blogs.

Predictably, they've become steadily more popular. More and more readers until one day, Kiltak tried logging onto his blog, only to discover that Blogspot seemed to have deleted his blog. No warning.

As expected, Kiltak sent a few salty emails and voice calls to the Blogspot folks, basically asking "What the @#$%?!?"

Sadly, it took them some time to figure out what he was talking about, but when they did the explanation went like this: The traffic going to Geeks Are Sexy as well as its content had risen to a level where Blogger decided it might be a possible source of 'spam' blogging. When that happens, it sticks the blog into a quarantine of sorts until they figure out what's what. Meanwhile the blogger no longer sees the site name in his blog management interface.

Be nice if they'd warn you first, wouldn't it? But the word to SMB (especially SB) guerilla marketing types is: Be careful. If your free marketing ploy actually becomes successful, there's a good chance it might just disappear one day. Read the fine print on your usage agreement and watch your traffic stats.

Posted by Oliver Rist on May 16, 2006 09:57 PM

May 15, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Social Networking for SMBs

TAGS: SMB Applications

Finally broke down and visited MySpace just to see what the fuss is about. I suppose giving me, a 40-year old computer geek, the ability to filter MySpace browsing to women between the ages of 30-40, 20-30 or (hey!) less-than-20 to 20, might make some parents nervous. But for the most part, the whole surfing process really struck me as pretty boring.

What's more useful are business-oriented social networking sites like CollectiveX, LinkedIn or even Yahoo Groups. The latter is more of a dedicated discussion thread manager, but your do get to meet people with like-minded interests if you set it up properly.

CollectiveX and LinkedIn are more targeted. I'm actually a member of LinkedIn, though I don't access it as often as I should. It's been a great resource, however, in finding talented help. By putting your own profile out there, you get networked with like-minded, socially responsible folks upon whom you can draw for work, contract jobs, sales or partnership discussions.

CollectiveX goes a little beyond LinkedIn in the features department. They've got a similar intent, but also combine certain team collaboration features, including group emails, shared scheduling, shared file areas and even managed bulk email services.

You can get a free membership if you like seeing banner ads, or you can opt for $20- and $36-per month premium packages that offer more storage space as well as additional security, including 128-bit SSL session encryption.

I'm not sure of the value in this for a medium-sized business. Mainly for HR, I'd expect. But for a small business, especially one that deals largely in contractors, these sites can be invaluable because they not only hook you up with qualified people, they also provide a large network of folks who are willing to vet, vouch for and rate them. Almost built-in references.

Posted by Oliver Rist on May 15, 2006 12:40 PM

May 12, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Good Article on the Inner Workings of Spam

TAGS: SMB Applications

Lately, I'm getting more and more calls from customers with increasing spam problems. Not sure if that's just the gradual escalation of spamware or because the spamming community is realizing that its days are numbered.

Whichever, SMBers need to get a better understanding of how spam works to efectively pick a tactic to fight it. Fortunately, I just ran across this solid article on how spammer's eat up email directories pubbed by Kiltak from Geeks Are Sexy.

Nice job and worth the read.

Posted by Oliver Rist on May 12, 2006 03:53 PM

May 11, 2006 | Comments: (0)

New SMB Announcements from HP

TAGS: SMB Hardware

HP announced two SMB tidbits at its recent HP Mobility conference:

First, there are two new notebooks in HP's stable with an SMB spin. The HP-Compaq nc2400 is the company's thinnest and lightest notebook to date that's still got an integrated optical drive. Starts at $2099. The nx7400 is a value PC with a widescreen form factor that still manages a thin-and-light package. Think about 5.6lbs with a 15.4-inch screen starting at $1049. But neither machine is yet available with Core Duo smarts, just in case that's important to you.

The second announcement concerns financing for SMB outfits. HP used the Mobility Conference to announce new financial options for small and medium business customers, including new, low-rate financing and leases. Also, beginning May 15th, HP will begin offering credit lines for eligible customers, as well.

Not part of the Mobility Conference were two new desktop announcements: The dx2200, which is your standard value-oriented business desktop. Only thing neat I see here is that HP says it's "Vista-Ready". The HP xw6400 Workstation is a mid-price dual-CPU-capable workstation model that's also pretty standard, with the exception that its web page on HP's site got nuked for some reason so all you get on it right now is this PDF sales brochure.

And last but not least, someone seems to have voted HP in the Top 10 for Best Support Sites, and this press release explains why. Valuable only because it goes into detail about some of their specific online support features.

Posted by Oliver Rist on May 11, 2006 11:35 AM

May 10, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Emerging Enterprise Podcast

TAGS: Podcast

This time we talk about what to expect when combining voice technology and CRM as well as what the real difference is between VoIP and IP telephony.   Listen!

Posted by Oliver Rist on May 10, 2006 12:03 PM

May 09, 2006 | Comments: (0)

The SMB Word from Interop

TAGS: SMB Applications

I was quiet last week because InfoWorld trundled my geek booty off to Vegas for the Interop show. I'm not that big a Vegas fan to begin with and Executive Editor, Doug Dineley shamed us into going to the significantly cheaper Excalibur hotel for the duration. Turns out it's significantly cheaper for a reason. Think open beer bottles in the halls and elevators at 8am.

That aside, Interop 2006 was an interesting show. Much larger than last year's Interminiop, this year's fest had to be housed at the cavernous convention center in the Mandalay Bay. Took about 20 minutes of walking from the Manadalay's side door just to get to the convention center -- that's a honking hotel.

On the SMB front, Interop was a win. Seems there were two things on every vendors mind at this year's show: SMBs and security. If they weren't trying to sell something into the SMB space, they were trying to sell something that tracked, monitored, protected or filtered. My Big Brother alarms were going off all week.

Stuff I liked:

The Kaidea NASVault. Cool bit of hardware. It's your typical SMB NAS box, built for disaster recovery and disk-based backup. But really built for it, meaning the thing is also water, fire and shock-proof. Further, it's got a front-mounted authorization button that requires pressing in order to authorise deletions. And it starts at about $2500. It got a Best of Show award, though that usually doesn't count for too much with me.

Also liked another Best of Show winner, Sipera Systems. These guys brought their IPCS 310 box to the show, and it's pretty nifty. SBs are still looking archly at VoIP, but MBs are getting to the broad deployment stage. Chief problem here, however, is becoming security--especially as folks seek to employ VoIP's more advanced features, like collaboration, employee location monitoring and other stuff.

The Sipera box sits in front of the IP PBX or the call manager or maybe just at the perimeter of the VoIP network. From here, it starts managing all your VoIP security needs, including DDoS protection, ensureing clean SIP traffic and basic VoIP firewalling. Starting at $22K, it's definitely not an SB box, but it's certainly a boon to MBs looking to safely use VoIP as a competitive edge.

Also like the new alliance between Axis and EMC. Axis Communications makes some of the best Web-based security cams around, while EMC is a storage vendor extrodinaire. Not only did they buy me breakfast, the combo actually has some real usefulness if you're a hapless SMB technology VAR like yours truly.

If you've ever had to assemble an IP-based security setup outside your garage, you know that flexible storage is a core requirement. As is integration with other security systems, including alarms, motion sensors and more. Axis and EMC have gotten together in EMC's interoperability labs to manage this integration headache, which means they'll be able to offer much more robust turnkey security solutions. Looking forward to it.

Posted by Oliver Rist on May 9, 2006 06:37 AM

May 03, 2006 | Comments: (0)

From Interop: SonicWALL Does Email for SMB

TAGS: SMB Applications

Yesterday, SonicWALL announced the release of the software it acquired when it purchased MailFrontier back in February--fast turnaround if you ask me.

Here at the Interop show, I talked with Gleb Budman, SonicWALL's senior director of product management for the email appliance line, and got a few more specifics on the announcement. Overall it concerns new email security software (available now), email security appliances for SMBs (available in two weeks) and email appliances for larger enterprises (available in early June).

Right now, The SonicWALL Email Security 200, 300, 400, 500 and 1000 appliances carry the standard library of email preventatives, including anti-virus, anti-spam, content filtering and auditing. That last one is the best feature, in my opinion, allowing admins to get an immediate answer to the question of "Hey, what happened to this specific email? I never got it." And getting that answer through a Web management GUI rather than some ultra-dense ASCII log file.

Given SonicWALL's foray into smart disk storage via its Backup & Recovery disk-based appliances, the company has also promised that it's working on an email archiving product. Remember, that's what I liked so much about Microsoft's Frontbridge stuff. SonicWALL should be talking about that later this year.

For now, the SMB email appliances will start at about $1,395 and go up from there depending on number of users and which service subscriptions you're buying.

Posted by Oliver Rist on May 3, 2006 02:40 PM

May 02, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Emerging Enterprise Podcast

TAGS: Podcast

My first ever interview with the GNOME desktop's chief spokes person: The Gnome Gnome. After the helium headache wears off, we also discuss the first-ever SMB IT Buyers' Guide on Internet Fax Service Providers--and why they can save SMB's big bucks and nasty headaches.   Listen!

Posted by Oliver Rist on May 2, 2006 12:09 PM

May 01, 2006 | Comments: (0)

SonicWall Better Watch Out: TrustELI's Coming On Strong

TAGS: SMB Hardware

So far, all I've had with these people is a quick phone interview with TrustELI founder and CEO, Susan Lutz, a knowledgeable tech exec whose not afraid to ask for publicity.

Normally, those please don't move unless they're accompanied with an envelope full of cash, but this time I think they may have something. Short version: TrustELI is a managed security services firm that's moving into the appliance market.

More short version: The new appliance is your typical cram-as-much-as-you-can-into-one-small-box thing. ELI for Small Business = Internet sharing router, SPI firewall, wireless access point, 4-port switch, the usual Internet sharing tools, and the ability to run deeper security apps, including AV, AS, content filtering and more for a low monthly service charge.

Sounds a lot like something SonicWall's (among others) has been selling for a while, right? Not at this price!

Check it: The hardware costs $250 for the box and $19.99/mo (for 5 users), $29.99/mo (for 10 users) or $39.99 (for 25 users) covers the managed services--that's all the managed services (what I listed above as well as 7/24 human tech support, dynamic policy management and more. That's a big kick in the pants to SMB security vendors like SonicWall, whose pricing is a multiple of this.

Ms. Lutz also demoed to me the setup process for their as-yet-unreleased and patent-pending VPN technology. I'm not going to recommend this until I verify it with some testing of my own, but if it works as advertised setting up a VPN is a matter of a few seconds. Only caveat is that there has to be an ELI device at either end--no word on how this affects mobile users. Post more on that after I abuse their hardware some.

Posted by Oliver Rist on May 1, 2006 11:06 AM