by Visit WindDance at
http://www.veryComputer.com/
WindDance sails in Breeze
Server vendor offers plug-and-play product line
for small, remote offices
who are looking to add file server capabilities to
their networks.
By Tom Venetis
WindDance Networks Corp. wants to make installing
and running servers as
easy as plugging in a toaster.
"I like that analogy," says Tom Johnson,
vice-president of sales and
marketing for the Ottawa-based company. "I would
not go to a store,
buy a toaster, bring it home and see if I could
find an installer to put it
together for me. A toaster is something I stick on
my shelf and it's ready to
go. That is the kind of experience we want to have
in this server line."
WindDance's Breeze is designed to be a
plug-and-play server that VARs
can put into small or remote offices of less than
100 persons. Johnson says
offices having more than 100 people usually have
NT-based servers and the
necessary IT staff or service contracts to keep
them running. Breeze is made
to work in environments where the staff does not
have access to immediate
IT skills or support services.
"A small company just can't afford that," Johnson
continues. "The solution is to have a box or appliance
that has a single purpose."
Breeze can be set up in about 15 minutes and
remotely administered through
a browser, the company says. It offers file server
capabilities, printer
spooling, fax server and a built-in 56K modem so
Breeze can act as an
e-mail server, Web server or Internet gateway.
This kind of built-in functionality will be
especially useful to VARs who often
have clients with remote sites that are too
expensive to get to, suggests Tony
McNeill, product manager for WindDance.
"The cost of ownership and ongoing maintenance
support is where the real
issue is," he continues. "Hardware is falling in
price and the software is pretty
good, but the question is how do you keep it all
running? And when I began
talking with the government, their biggest issue
was how do they service
remote locations. They can't send an NT server to
Upper * Boot
Manitoba and then have someone go out there to
service it."
Visit WindDance at
http://www.veryComputer.com/