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In the past year, Internet appliances that provide one or more network services-such as Web serving, Internet access, VPN support, firewall protection and e-mail delivery-have gained ground over traditional single-tower or rack-mountable servers with multiple installed service applications. Why? They offer significantly greater performance, take up less real estate and cost a fraction of a traditional solution.
Rebel.com's NetWinder 3100 Internet appliance performs all of the above business-critical tasks, as well as printer sharing and Web discussion. It takes up no more space on your shelf than the new John LeCarre novel and costs a nominal $1,795. It does an excellent job of delivering rich management features to midsize businesses with limited IT resources. A wireless version, the Net- Winder 3300, is available for slightly more-the only physical difference being a PCMCIA card slot.
The NetWinder runs BSD and Apache Web Server on a 533-MHz Transmeta Crusoe TM5400 processor with a 4-MB parallel boot flash that utilizes Code Morphing Software and the Linux 2.4 kernel. The 3100 we tested had a 10-GB hard drive and 128-MB PC133 CL3 SDRAM.
Physical attributes on the front panel are well-designed; status LEDs for power, WAN, LAN, and system and hard disk...