This post was written by Christie Feeder
Draytek’s Vigor 2820 has an Ethernet WAN port to which an external ADSL or cable modem can be attached, and a USB port for connection via a mobile phone or mobile broadband adapter. Local users can be connected via a built-in 4-port network switch, with Gigabit support on one port for a server or backbone network uplink. It offers multiple ways of connecting to the Internet, integrated backup and load balancing facilities, together with extensive wired and wireless networking facilities.
KACE KBOX 1000 Series is an impressive solution and offers a great deal of functionality in an intuitive management console. It clearly goes a long way to helping small to mid-sized environments with a minimal, moderately technical staff, Enjoy the management benefits that are more commonly associated with large enterprise environments that have a staff of senior engineers. It provides a way to conditionally run commands and affect changes to a machine without writing a script at all. The KBOX does well to reduce the complexity of scripting, software deployment and remote client management.
KACE KBOX 2000 Series provides a cost-effective way for smaller organizations to enjoy some automation features traditionally targeted at much larger enterprise environments. The recovery console is an innovative feature that may provide an invaluable tool for when things go wrong with a workstation. With its web interface it is very easy to manage remote systems, you just would not want them coming over the WAN for any of these network intensive tasks. Both unattended installation and imaging support provides you with the choice to go with the best technology for your organization.
Matrox’s Extio is a very targeted product that addresses very specific users. If however you or your company falls into that target area, you’ll probably see the Extio as a revelation – a solution to a problem that you thought was insurmountable. Yes it’s expensive, and yes it requires considerable infrastructure groundwork at rollout, but if your company is short on space, obsessive about ambient noise or just paranoid about data security, the effort of installing Extio systems could be well worth it.
Cisco’s WAAS Mobile 3.4 does away with the need for any proprietary hardware at each end of the connection. Reviewers found both the server and client components extremely easy to install and deploy, the management facilities particularly good and the results from WAN acceleration performance tests show it is just as fast as many more costly hardware solutions. Cisco’s WAAS Mobile looks an ideal choice for businesses that want their mobile and remote workers to enjoy LAN like performance but don’t want to be locked in to proprietary appliance based solutions.
KACE’s KBOX Systems Management Appliance single day installation eliminated the need for costly and time-consuming offsite training, and deployed to hundreds of clients in under an hour. It cuts downtime and reduces issues caused by human error to almost zero. KACE provided a way to automate manual systems management tasks without breaking the bank, putting unwanted overhead on our corporate intranet or forcing our team to invest hundreds of hours in training. The KBOX supplied exceptionally easy implementation, an intuitive interface, reliable results and top-notch technical support staff.
Net2Phone VoIP-Phone MAX IP 10 is an IP Phone that enables corporate and home broadband users to make and receive low-cost VoIP and PSTN calls from the same telephone. It provides even greater savings on calls from one Max to another and can be easily added to an existing network and phone system. Corporations can save money by enabling employees to make calls through the Max whether they are in the office or not. Additional business management tools are IVR (Interactive Voice Response) functionality, enabling call connection and account balance announcements and password protection.
HP’s CP3505x stands out against other colour lasers in its class, thanks mainly to a 21ppm laser engine, capable of printing in colour at the same speed as monochrome. Print quality is excellent too, even on plain paper, plus you get two paper trays, a duplexer and comprehensive networking support all as standard. A small but surprisingly clear LCD display is provided for local operation with a Web-based interface for remote setup and management. A hard act to beat, but shop around for the best price.
Optoma Pico PK101 is easily the smallest projector ever. The concept is awesome, the design is brilliantly conceived and hugely desirable in an iPhone kind of way, and there are even some signs of genuine DLP image quality. The Pico naturally comes with its own rechargeable battery; you don’t need to have a plug socket or USB source to hand. Battery life is quoted at around two hours max - though Titanic fans will end up disappointed. Moreover, Pico doesn’t actually allow you to adjust anything other than the image focus.
Billion has made quite a name for itself in the SSL VPN appliance market with S20. The S20 shows that SSL VPNs are the way forward for providing secure access to the LAN for remote workers. For the price, it offers a lot of useful feature for smaller businesses and the optional OTP solution makes it even more versatile. Reviewers liked the fact that the S20 is fanless so it’s completely silent in operation. The simple web interface helps get the WAN ports configured and then you can move on to SSL VPN creation.