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Sun's Cobalt Qube 3 tops our list in style and functionality.
The term "Internet appliance" - bandied about for years promises easy setup and Webbased administration for performing well-defined tasks. With the exploding number of small offices and remote offices needing secure Internet services, and the continuing dearth of skilled technical support, the Internet appliance market looks good.
Can Sam the sales manager run the San Antonio branch office using an Internet server appliance? According to our tests, absolutely. Whether Sam gets help from headquarters' technical staff or from his teenaged daughter experienced in building a user Web site on AOL, an Internet appliance will give Sam all he needs for light to moderate Web, e-mail and file services.
Of the four Internet appliances we tested, Cobalt's Qube 3 offers the most administrative information, strongest fault tolerance and best Web e-mail for browser clients, along with the typical e-mail server software. Style helps too, as the cube look remains cool after three years. This combination earned Qube 3 the Network World Blue Ribbon award.
But Rebel NetWinder 3100 gets plenty of style points as well, and offers almost the same administrative depth. If your clients will benefit more from discussion forums running on the NetWinder server than from Webbased e-mail, NetWinder will serve you well. InstaGate EX2 and Celestix Aries Server Appliance work well but lack the extras mentioned for Qube 3 and NetWinder.
Toshiba's new Magnia SGIO hit the streets too late to be included in our tests, but it takes direct aim at Qube 3, with nearly identical features, disk capacity and price range. Two years ago IBM bought one of the early Internet appliance companies, Whistle Interjet, and has withdrawn the product from the market while it reconfigures the service bundle that includes the appliance as part of a long-term Internet services contract.
Sun/Cobalt Qube 3
Cobalt's Qube didn't invent the Internet server appliance niche, but it's done the most to popularize the market. The 7-by-7-by-8-inch purple cube shocked server traditionalists when the product was first shipped in early 1998. This third major revision, Qube 3, (at 8 by 8 by 7.5 inches) packs more punch and applied experience than any other current vendor. Now part of the Sun family, Cobalt...