The most recent articles from PC Magazine

Ayrsoft Icon Server

Alex Arias — 2004-06-22T14:10:36.000Z

Alex Arias, PC Magazine, Tuesday 22 June 2004 at 14:10:36

Server takes a new form.

Small form factor PCs have been around for some time, but only enthusiasts have converted these into servers. This has changed with Ayrsoft's Icon Server, which hosts a number of applications within a Shuttle system.

Our review system was powered by an Intel P4 2.4GHz processor. The twin 80GB hard drives were mirrored for redundancy and 512MB of PC2700 DDR unbuffered non-ECC memory was installed. Because of the small size of the case, there are only two available memory slots and a single PCI slot.

The hardware configuration is designed to cope with more than 24 users, which seems reasonable, while the base operating system is a customised version of Mandrake Linux. There is no need to know Linux, though, as the unit is managed over a secure browser connection.

A wizard guides you through the installation and once completed the well designed Web-based management screen lets you configure additional options. This literally takes a few minutes, after which the office software can be managed. This includes applications such as an intranet, email, file sharing, firewall and VPN support, as well as a MySQL database. In the near future distributed Internet will become available, and automatic upgrades from Ayrsoft can be scheduled every night.

There are several different versions of the Icon software, from a starter pack to a Plus edition, that include customer relationship management, antispam filtering and other options.

The server can be bought in varying configurations, such as with a DSL modem. A lower specified system for fewer than 24 users is available, but the lack of a second hard drive might make some administrators a little anxious. Icon Server software is sold separately and can scale up to 5,000 users with the right hardware.

It's a powerful system that can be easily managed. Expansion is restricted to three FireWire and four USB ports, while the Linux operating system may limit support for peripherals.

Contact: 01294 318722

www.ayrsoft.com

Specifications:

Form factor: Small form factor
Dimensions 200x285x185mm
Shuttle system SB51G
CPU Pentium 4 2.4GHz
Max memory 2GB
Network cards 2 x 10/100Base-TX
PCI slots One 32-bit 33MHz
Optical drive AOpen CD-RW
Hard drive capacity 2 x 80GB
Seagate ST380011A UltraATA/100
Applications Email, firewall, Web, print server (additional applications available)
Warranty One year RTB

Price:

£2,799 (ex. VAT) for a 50-user license.

Dell PowerEdge 700

Alex Arias — 2004-06-21T14:23:18.000Z

Alex Arias, PC Magazine, Monday 21 June 2004 at 14:23:18

Dell serves up all-rounder.

Dell's PowerEdge 700 is a general purpose server designed for minimal IT support environments and is suitable for branch offices or small to medium-sized businesses. Based on an Intel E7210 chipset, it supports a single Intel Pentium 4 (up to 3.2GHz). The memory is dual banked and is expandable to 4GB, so it should be able to cope with moderate-sized database applications.

Storage can be based on either SCSI or cheaper SATA drives, and optional RAID cards can be purchased for either interface. Our review system came equipped with a Dell CERC SATA Raid controller and two SATA drives. Four 3.5in drive bays should provide sufficient storage capacity for its intended market. Additionally, there is a spare 5.25in bay for backup devices such as a tape drive. There's plenty of room for expansion, with three PCI-X slots and two PCI. These could be quickly used up as there's only a single integrated Gigabit Ethernet NIC. Optional extras such as the RAID card and Dell's remote management card (DRAC III/XT, £132 ex VAT) will also reduce the number of slots available.

The hardware is encased in a lockable tower chassis that unfortunately doesn't have any internal tool-free features. The large air duct over both the CPU and the memory may prove a little fiddly if you have to upgrade the memory, but apart from this it's pretty uncluttered internally. There's limited redundancy as there are no hot swap power supplies or hot plug drive bays.

In terms of performance, the system was well up to par, with the SATA drives configured as a RAID1 configuration performing well. The 2.8GHz Pentium 4 HT processor coped well, fulfilling a high number of Web requests. However, the server generated significant noise, which could be a problem in small offices.

Dell's Server Assistant provides the relevant driver files for all the major operating systems including Linux, making installation easy. The browser-based Dell Open Manage IT Assistant is used for server maintenance.

Overall, it fulfils all basic requirements of a small network environment, although with a single CPU it's obviously more limited for demanding applications.

Contact: Dell 0870 907 4155

www.dell.co.uk

Specifications:

Form factor: Tower
CPU: Single P4 up to 3.2GHz or a Celeron 2.4GHz
Max memory: 4GB ECC PC3700
Internal storage: 4 x 3.5in bays, 1 spare 5.25in bay
PCI-X slots: 3 x 64-bit/66MHz
PCI slots: 2 x 32-bit/33MHz
Network cards: 1 onboard Intel Gigabit NIC
Warranty: Three years on site

Castelle FaxPress Premier

Alex Arias — 2004-03-31T17:02:31.000Z

Alex Arias, PC Magazine, Wednesday 31 March 2004 at 17:02:31

Power faxing.

It has been a long time since a fax server has been reviewed in PC Magazine. It's easy to forget that faxes are still important tools in all areas of business, particularly financial services.

Castelle's FaxPress Premier is a network fax server appliance designed for larger enterprises, and available for either analogue or digital lines. It uses standard Intel x86 hardware, with a local hard drive capacity of 40GB, and runs Windows 2000 embedded OS.

The analogue version supports up to 16 lines (eight are standard), while the digital option supports up to 90 lines. Both versions use Intel PCI fax boards: the analogue model uses Intel Dialogic 33.6Kbit/s fax modems and the digital version uses an Intel Dialogic E-1.

A certain amount of initial administration is required to configure the fax boards, although you can set the required IP address through the integrated LCD display at the front of the unit. Once it has been set up, it is managed with the Faxmain client software or over a secure SSL connection through a Web browser.

The administration interface is straightforward, although it may take a little while to become familiar with the numerous options. The unit supports Single Sign On for Windows and Novell NDS, and integrates into Microsoft's Active Directory or LDAP-based systems.

FaxPress Premier's email gateway also allows SMTP-compliant mail clients such as Outlook or Lotus Notes to send or receive faxes directly.

System backup and restore functionality for settings, user information and fax job data is included as standard. Castelle provides Web software development kits for companies that want to develop bespoke solutions. Automated or production faxing can easily be set up, and a variety of pre-configured granular report types can be extracted from the transaction logs.

It looks as it faxes will continue to be needed until certified email becomes a reality. If faxes are a core part of your business needs, Castelle FaxPress Premier offers a powerful and comprehensive solution.

Contact: Castelle (01202) 720012

www.castelle.co.uk

Specifications:

Dimensions: (DxWxH) 43.9x48.2x8.9cm
Weight: 10kg
Fax board: Intel Dialogic CPI/400B2 (analogue); CPI-400PCI (digital)
Number of fax channels: 8, 12 or 16 (analogue); 24, 48 or 72 (digital)
Processor: Intel Pentium III 850MHz
System memory: 256MB DDR-SDRAM
I/O Ports: 4 USB, 1 RJ45, Parallel port, VGA, 1 Serial port
OS Embedded: Microsoft Windows SAK 2.0
OS Support: Windows, Linux, Netware, TCP/IP networks
Number of users: Unlimited
Fax Protocols: V.34, V.17, V.29, V.27
Fax data: compression MH, MR, MMR
Warranty: 3 years RTB

Teac vendotto wall NS-80 L-T3

Alex Arias — 2004-01-22T15:27:46.000Z

Alex Arias, PC Magazine, Thursday 22 January 2004 at 15:27:46

Feature-rich server for the small office.

TEAC produces a wide range of micro-servers, which offer a number of office applications and hardware solutions in compact units, while being best-suited for small or remote offices. The model reviewed here, the Vendotto Wall NS-80-L-T3, incorporates file, print and Web server capabilities, a router and a hardware firewall.

The firewall is in the shape of an integrated SonicWall Tele3 SP system board. Internally the Vendotto Wall is literally two separate systems, with the SonicWall providing the stateful packet inspection and Vendotto's system board offering the internal network services. This offloads the processor-intensive work, such as encryption from the server sub-system. However, due to its compact casing, this leads to some extreme twisting of the network cables connecting the boards together, which could potentially cause signal degradation.

SonicWall provides the features, such as VPN capabilities for remote clients, and users familiar with its products will encounter the standard Web-based management software. The same functionality such as anti-virus, spam and URL content filtering is included, although some of the additional features are subscription based and purchased directly from SonicWall.

For a small office without any IT support, installation of the system could prove to be a little complex. Although it's easily accessed through the supplied management tools, the basic glue between the two systems may lead to some confusion when allocating IP addresses. As with other Vendotto systems all the necessary network services are provided through a Linux-based operating system. This is well hidden from the users, with all management and interactions directed through a clear browser-based system.

Bundled with the Vendotto is iOffice. This is a Web-based groupware suite, which provides a low-cost small office suite. It includes 13 integrated applications, such as schedulers, reservations and document management facilities. The suite is provided with a five-user license and is upgradeable to 10-users.

An integrated file, Web and print server are available whilst the Vendotto Wall supports a single hard disk drive with either an 80GB or 120GB capacity. Additional options include 802.11b access point capability or integrated modems for dial-up connectivity.

It's astonishing how TEAC has packed so many services into such a tiny, unobtrusive box. Although it's only designed for a handful of users, and could be a little complex for non-technical users to install, it's a potentially useful solution for small offices. We do, however, have our reservations about the physical construction.

Contact: Teac

www.vendotto.de

Specifications:

Dimensions: (DxWxH) 21x7x25cm
Weight: 2.7kg
Firewall architecture: Stateful packet inspection
Number of VPN connections: 5 (upgradeable)
Interfaces: 1xUSB 1.1, 10/100base TX LAN port, 1xparallel and serial port
Storage: 80GB or 120GB
Server services: Print, Web, File, Wireless AP (Optional)
Bundled software: GroupWare iOffice 2000 - 5-user license upgradeable to 10
Warranty: 2 years RTB

Systemax Mission 5502 Server

Alex Arias — 2003-11-19T12:24:15.000Z

Alex Arias, PC Magazine, Wednesday 19 November 2003 at 12:24:15

Dual-drive for heavy loads.

Systemax is closely associated with desktop PCs, but it also offers a variety of rack and pedestal server systems. The Mission 5502 is a 1U rackmount system offering good performance for tasks such as hosting firewalls and Web serving.

Based on a Supermicro P4SCE motherboard, it supports a single 3.06GHz Intel Pentium 4 CPU, based on Intel's 845P Canterwood chipset running an 800MHz front side bus and with 4GB of PC3200 ECC DDR-SDRAM memory. LAN connectivity is provided through dual-integrated Intel 82541EM Gigabit Ethernet NICs.

Unsurprisingly for a rackmount chassis, there's little room for expansion. Internally, there's only a single 32-bit 33MHz PCI slot. The dual hot-swap drive bays were filled in our review model with 36GB Western Digital Serial ATA Raptor drives - a maximum capacity of 320GB is supported at present. The integrated Intel ICH-5 Serial ATA controller supports RAID levels 0 and 1.

There are two system fans providing plenty of airflow through the chassis, although they're noisy in use. Neither these nor the single 250W power supply are hot-swappable. Intrusion detection is available on the motherboard, but it wasn't implemented in our system. Basic status LEDs are situated on the front panel.

Using WebBench 4.1 and NetBench 7.02 running Windows Server 2000, the Mission 5502 showed good Web-serving performance, fully utilising the P4 3.0GHz HT processor and the high memory bandwidth from the dual-channel 400MHz PC3200 memory. Although not designed for 24/7 environments, the Serial ATA drives performed well under heavy loads and are more than capable of handling a small office environment.

No operating system is supplied, but a CDROM provides the relevant driver files for the major operating systems, such as RedHat and Microsoft servers. Additional management software includes Intel's LANDesk Client Manager and Supermicro's SuperO Doctor utility for environmental monitoring.

Overall, the Mission 5502 offers good performance, but it's obviously limited in its expansion capabilities. However, it's dual-drive capability ensures a reasonable internal storage capacity. A three-year, on-site warranty is offered, with cover available five days a week and eight hours a day with an eight-hour response time.

Contact: Simply (0870) 727 2100

www.systemaxpc.co.uk

Specifications:

Case 1U rackmount
CPU Intel 3.06GHz Pentium 4
Memory 4GB PC3200
Chipset Intel 875P
Graphics Onboard ATI Rage XL 8MB
Hard disk drives Two hotswappable Serial ATA bays
Expansion slots Single 32-bit 33MHz PCI
Optical drive 24X CD-ROM drive
Other drives 3.5in. floppy disk drive
Warranty Three years, on-site (five days/eight hours, eight-hour response)

HP TC2120

Alex Arias — 2003-09-10T10:09:01.000Z

Alex Arias, PC Magazine, Wednesday 10 September 2003 at 10:09:01

Basic entry level server from HP.

A fine example of HP's basic entry-level server range, the TC2120 is designed for cost-conscious customers. It differs from the more basic TC2110 by providing greater performance and expansion capabilities and is, therefore, suited for small network environments for file and printer sharing, Web access or even small database applications.

Housed in a tower case with a tool-free lockable chassis, the single CPU system is available in two configurations - either a P4 2.53GHz or a Celeron 1.8GHz Intel processor, both using a Serverworks Grand Champion SL chipset. Its basic memory configuration is 256MB, expandable up to 4GB of PC2100 ECC DDR-SDRAM memory. Connectivity is provided through a single integrated Broadcom Gigabit Ethernet NIC.

Internally, there's plenty of room for expansion, with five 64-bit/33MHz PCI slots available. Additionally, there are two spare 5.25in. bays for devices such as tape drives. These are all tool-free and easily accessible.

Our review system came equipped with a single Ultra320 10,000rpm SCSI hard drive hooked up to the optional single channel PCI SCSI controller card (the onboard dual-channel Ultra ATA/100 controller is the standard configuration).

An additional spare 3.5in. drive bay is available, although one of the 5.25in. bays must be used to achieve the maximum quoted internal storage capacity of 240GB (three 80GB E-IDE drives) or 109GB (three 36GB SCSI drives).

With neither hot-swap power supplies, nor hot-plug drive bays, the redundancy level is par for the course at this level. Another slight drawback is the lack of a USB port on the front bezel, a feature that can prove extremely useful. On the plus side, the TC2120 is reasonably quiet in use - no louder than an average desktop PC.

No operating system is supplied, but a startup CD-ROM provides the relevant driver files for all the major operating systems, such as SuSE, RedHat and Novell, and Microsoft's server operating systems, including Windows Server 2003.

Overall, the TC2120 provides all the basic hardware requirements for a small network environment, providing good performance in our Labs tests.

Although the expansion potential is limited, it's a reasonably priced way to get a small network up and running.

Contact: HP (0845) 270 4222

www.hp.com/uk

Specifications:

Case Tower 5U
CPU Pentium 4 2.53GHz
Memory 256MB of ECC PC2100
Chipset ServerWorks Grand Champion SL
Graphics Integrated 8MB ATI Rage XL
Hard disk 36GB Ultra320 SCSI
Expansion slots Five x 64-bit/33MHz PCI
Optical drive 48X CD-ROM drive
Other drives 3.5in. floppy disk drive
Warranty One year, on site, NBD

Alcatel OmniPCX Office

Alan Stevens — 2002-08-23T11:10:42.000Z

Alan Stevens, PC Magazine, Friday 23 August 2002 at 11:10:42

Worth investigating if you're looking for voice and data integration.

Alcatel's OmniPCX Office is a Linux-based server that provides a mix of voice and data networking.

It can be used as an analogue and digital PABX, and can be equipped to provide shared internet access, an email server, firewall, virtual private network (VPN) and other services.

The hardware is modular with a choice of three desktop or rack mount cabinet sizes and a variety of modules, starting with the main Linux-based processing board.

All the usual PABX functionality comes as standard on this board, including music on hold and voicemail. A TAPI-compliant CTI server (25 users) is another standard option, with Windows-based client software (PIMphony) also included.

Other options include analogue and digital interface modules for user handsets, plus analogue trunk, Basic and Primary Rate ISDN cards for external communications.

Mixed boards, offering both local and wide area network (Wan) ports, are another option and as well as Alcatel's own handsets (Alcatel Reflexes). Other vendors' equipment, including DECT mobile phones, can also be attached.

For local area network connectivity 8- and 16-port Ethernet switch modules are available along with a Voice over IP co-processing add-on for the main processing module.

Shared internet access can be implemented via the built-in Wan interfaces or an external DSL modem/router, and there are other add-on modules to provide the email server, firewall and IPSec VPN support.

It sounds complex but, in practice, Alcatel's OmniPCX Office is relatively straightforward to install - a job normally done by a reseller.

Professional cabling is needed for larger networks and you'll require separate servers to provide for file and printer sharing and running other applications.

Such considerations aside, the Alcatel appliance is a neat standards-based solution that caters for most of the voice and data networking needs of a small to medium-sized enterprise.

Price: From £819 (ex. VAT), handsets extra.

Features:

Voice interfaces: Analogue/digital, DECT mobile, VoIP

Internal data interfaces: 8 /16 port 10/100Mbit/s Ethernet switch modules - max. 84 ports

External interfaces: Max. 72 analogue trunks, nine PRI, 12 BRI

CTI Server: CSTA/TAPI-compatible, 25 clients

Shared Internet: Max. 200 users

Email server: SMTP/POP3, 200 users.

Contact: 01633 413666

www.alcatel.com

Fujitsu Siemens Primergy Econel20 E

Alexander Arias — 2002-08-22T10:44:30.000Z

Alexander Arias, PC Magazine, Thursday 22 August 2002 at 10:44:30

Very much a small-business server, but a good performer nonetheless.

Server manufacturers are only just starting to ship Pentium 4-based products and the Primergy Econel20 from Fujitsu Siemens is the first to be tested in the PC Magazine labs.

Aimed at small businesses, the Econel20 acquits itself well in terms of performance, although some compromises have been made to keep the price down.

The biggest limitation is that there's only room for one processor on what is, effectively, a desktop PC motherboard inside a compact tower case. This isn't a problem if all you want is file and print sharing, as the Econel20 performed well when compared to a Pentium III-based server.

However, it could be an issue if you wanted to run shared applications, such as a database or web server, for example, where a dual-processor set up would be better.

Space is also at a premium, so it was disappointing to find a plug-in graphics adapter rather than an onboard controller inside. The AGP AIT Radeon card is more than adequate and doesn't occupy any PCI expansion slots, but it has a large heat sink and could interfere with other adapters.

On the plus side, memory support is good, with 256MB of ECC protected Double Data Rate Ram fitted as standard, which is expandable up to 1GB.

An integrated 10/100Mbit/s Ethernet controller from Intel is also built in and we were impressed with the device's low noise level, an important consideration in a small, open plan office.

Moreover, despite its size, there's space inside the case for two hard disks. An 80GB Ultra ATA/100 drive is included as part of the base configuration.

A second disk will add £274 (ex. VAT) to the price. Optional plug-in Raid and SCSI controllers are also on offer, plus there's room for a 5.25in tape drive if needed.

As with most entry-level products, the Econel2 is delivered without an operating system, although the ServerStart software included can be used to install a variety of products.

In this respect, the Econel20 is certified for use with Windows and the leading Linux distributions. A server monitoring utility is also included and a three-year, on-site warranty (next business day) completes this well-configured package.

Price: £749 (ex. VAT).

Specifications:

Processor: 1.7GHz Intel Pentium 4

Maximum memory: 1GB of ECC DDR Ram

PCI slots: Three 32-bit 33MHz

Internal storage capacity: 160GB (two drives)

Software support: Windows NT 4.0/2000, Linux (Red Hat Linux and SuSE).

Contact: Fujitsu Siemens 01344 475555

www.fujitsu-siemens.com

Toshiba Magnia SG20

Alex Arias — 2002-07-24T11:55:35.000Z

Alex Arias, PC Magazine, Wednesday 24 July 2002 at 11:55:35

A late entrant, but well specified.

Toshiba's Magnia SG20 is a self-contained small-business Linux server with an integrated Ethernet switch and wireless connectivity.

The sleek silver case houses an Intel Celeron processor supported by 64MB of memory and mirrored 15GB, 20GB or 40GB hard disks.

The software is Red Hat Linux with the usual Apache web server, SMTP/POP3 email server and Windows file sharing using Samba.

A pre-configured intranet with customisable pages is also included, but the lack of scripting support could be frustrating. Neither could we change the internal IP address, although a software update is under development to fix this.

Installation is a matter of plugging it in and switching it on. DHCP and DNS servers are already configured and clients can be connected rapidly using wired and 802.11b wireless connections. Shared internet access is supported via a built-in modem or Ethernet wide area network port.

The only concern is a lack of configuration options, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Price: from £989 (ex. VAT)

Specifications:

Processor: 566MHz Intel Celeron

Operating system: Red Hat Linux

Services: Samba, email, web, File Transfer Protocol, virtual private network, firewall.

Contact: Toshiba 0870 444 8944

www.toshiba.com

Hewlett Packard tc2100

Alexander Arias — 2002-07-03T14:46:13.000Z

Alexander Arias, PC Magazine, Wednesday 3 July 2002 at 14:46:13

A well supported server with a three year warranty.

The smallest of HP's Intel-based server products, the tc2100 is targeted at the small business looking for basic file and print services.

Replacing the older Netserver E200, the new model is much quicker, more capable and neatly addresses a number of previous concerns.

To begin with, the tc2100 is built around a more robust and accessible chassis, which is more stylish and features tool-free expansion to make upgrades far less painful.

In addition, there are two 5.25in bays for backup devices, plus a second internal hard disk bay. Security hasn't been neglected either, with a key lock also included.

Inside the case is a uniprocessor motherboard based on a VIA chipset that supports either a Pentium III processor, as reviewed here, or a slightly slower Celeron. Up to 1.5Gb of ECC-protected memory can be accommodated in three industry-standard Dimm slots.

An integrated Intel 82559 chip provides 10/100Mbit/s Ethernet connectivity, while the onboard Rage XL graphics controller is more than adequate for any server.

Storage is, by default, looked after by an onboard dual-channel E-IDE controller with a single 40Gb 7,200rpm ATA-100 hard disk on the base E-IDE model (£675 ex. VAT).

However, the version we tested was fitted with an optional Adaptec Ultra160 SCSI controller and 18.2Gb 10,000rpm Ultra160 SCSI hard disk.

The Adaptec card consumes one of the PCI expansion slots but, with five available, this isn't a big issue. In addition, the SCSI card can be used to support a backup tape drive.

Unless otherwise specified, the tc2100 is delivered without an operating system. However, a start-up CDRom helps with installation and there's support for all the leading products, including Windows NT/2000, Novell NetWare and most of the low-cost Linux implementations.

We were suitably impressed with the new server, which performed well in our labs. You'll need to budget for a monitor, but a three-year, on-site warranty comes as standard. Support for a second processor would be nice but, other than that, the tc2100 stands up well against the small-business server competition.

Price: £775 (ex. VAT)

Specifications:

Processor: 1.13GHz Pentium III (950MHz Celeron option)

Memory: 128Mb of ECC SDRam, expandable to 1.5Gb

Storage: Six drive bays, internal disk capacity of 120Gb (E-IDE) or 219Gb (SCSI)

Operating system: Installation support for Windows NT/2000, NetWare, Red Hat Linux, Turbo Linux.

Contact: Hewlett Packard 0990 474 747

www.hp.co.uk

Hewlett Packard sa1120

Alexander Arias — 2002-05-22T10:21:09.000Z

Alexander Arias, PC Magazine, Wednesday 22 May 2002 at 10:21:09

An easy to administer appliance server that can be deployed quickly.

The sa1120 is part of Hewlett Packard's family of turnkey appliance servers based on standard Intel hardware. Web hosting appliances are designed to host multiple websites and services making them ideal for service providers.

It's a 1U rack server powered by a 750MHz Pentium III processor with 256Kb of Level 2 cache and 256Mb of ECC-protected SDRam as standard, although up to 1Gb of memory can be installed.

Storage capacity is provided by a Quantum 9Gb hard drive, although there's an additional drive bay enabling redundancy capabilities.

The drives are controlled via an Ultra3 SCSI adapter, which has an external port to provide connection to a storage pool or backup device if required. A single free PCI slot is available, with dual 10/100Base-T, two USB and a serial port located at the rear.

The attraction of appliance servers is their ease of use. This is especially true for the sa1120. Deployment is made easier with basic IP settings configurable via its excellent front panel LCD.

Once set, all further configuration settings are located through a web browser. The base operating system is an optimised Linux kernel running Apache as its web server.

The software and the pre-configured critical services eliminate the complexity of the system.

Navigating throughout the custom web-based interface is easy and a basic configuration can be up and running in minutes. Using web forms, administrators can create multiple name or IP-based virtual domains.

Each is capable of hosting a site with email facilities using Sendmail, which supports up to 1,000 users and FTP services.

Scripting supports Perl, PHP and CGI scripts as well as SSL capabilities. DNS is available to offload this service from other servers on a network.

With group administration, it's possible to save time by allowing administrators to make changes to groups of appliances.

Troubleshooting can be carried out over Telnet sessions, and the serial port on the front panel makes it easier to use. Support includes a one-year next-business day onsite warranty with free telephone support.

The sa1120 is capable of hosting multiple web domains and email services, and provides good performance.

Price: (as reviewed, ex. VAT) £1,940

Contact: HP 0990 474 747

www.hp.com/uk/

Multivision Titan 6 DX

Alex Cruickshank — 2002-05-01T11:09:30.000Z

Alex Cruickshank, PC Magazine, Wednesday 1 May 2002 at 11:09:30

Significant advantages when treated as a server.

Although Multivision pitched this machine to PC Magazine as a high-end workstation, it's really anything but. Dual hyper-threading Intel Xeon processors, each running at 2GHz, is moderately overkill for the average office suite or even graphic design user. Given its specification, the Titan 6 DX looks more sensible when treated as a server machine.

For a start there's the huge tower case, which has space for five more externally accessible 5.25in drives, in addition to the system's only E-IDE device, a CD-RW drive. From Mirai, it's rated at 32-speed for write, 10-speed for re-write and 40-speed for read operations.

Then there's the motherboard, a SuperMicro 4D6C+ board using the Intel 860 chipset and fitted with four Rambus slots, half of which are occupied with 256MB RIMM modules for a total of 512MB.

Dual Adaptec Ultra160 SCSI adapters are built in to the motherboard. These are for internal use only and one of them connects to a fast Fujitsu Ultra160 SCSI hard disk drive with a capacity of 36GB. An Intel Pro/100+ Server network adapter is also integrated into this board.

A Best Data voice/data/fax V.90 modem is fitted as the only PCI card in the system, leaving five other slots free. Two of these are 64bit, 66MHz slots. There's also an Elsa Synergy III AGP graphics adapter, based on the nVidia Quadro2 MXR graphics processor. This connects to a Mitsubishi DiamondPro 920 display.

Internally the cables are tucked out of the way and there's also a case cover micro-switch that can be configured to detect unauthorised entry. Multivision supplies a two-year on-site warranty with this machine.

Despite its obvious capabilities as a server system, Multivision switched off Hyper-threading in the BIOS of our test machine before delivery, and Windows XP Professional was installed on the system's hard disk drive.

The results from our benchmarks show that its advantages are far more significant when treated as a server. Bear this in mind before deciding whether a Titan 6 DX is really suitable for use as a workstation.

Contact

Multivision: 49-53 High Street, Halesowen, West Midlands B63 3BG

Tel 0870 220 2822, Fax 0870 220 2823

www.multivision.co.uk