Network Engines delivers new Internet Appliance Architecture for exploding e-business landscape

Business Wire, Jan 25, 2000

Business/Technology Editors

ComNet 2000

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 25, 2000

New server appliances are more affordable, faster, easier to

manage and better performing than traditional server technologies

At ComNet today, Network Engines, Inc., unveiled a completely different approach to conducting e-business that replaces expensive, multi-function servers with a series of faster, easier-to-use application-specific appliances. Network Engines' Internet Appliance Architecture(TM) allows any company to deploy and manage an affordable, scalable platform capable of handling large volumes of Web content reliably and efficiently.

The Internet Appliance Architecture's cost, manageability and ease-of-use advantages over traditional multi-function servers come from a combination of specialization and scalability. The Internet Appliance Architecture currently consists of four 1U (1.75 inches high) Internet appliances (WebEngine Roadster(TM), WebEngine Viper(TM), AdminEngine(TM) and CommerceEngine(TM)), each dedicated to a specific task. Network Engines pre-installs all necessary software so e-businesses can easily deploy the Internet Appliance Architecture without expensive, time-consuming fine-tuning to ensure optimum performance. In addition, Network Engines can efficiently cluster and manage up to 256 appliances through a single console.

The Internet Appliance Architecture is aimed at a worldwide appliance server market that will top $7.9 billion in revenues on more than 2 million units shipped by 2003, according to International Data Corporation. Companies ranging in size from small Internet service providers (ISPs) to enterprise e-business companies will benefit from the Internet Appliance Architecture's scalability and manageability.

&uot;To stay profitable in e-business, you must have the power to accommodate suddenly higher demands for Web content by growing quickly and easily,&uot; said John Cator, vice chairman of Citysoft.com, a Web developer. &uot;Network Engines' Internet Appliance Architecture provides the performance that e-business companies will need to affordably maintain an uninterrupted presence on the Web.&uot;

Network Engines' pre-installed management software provides &uot;lights out&uot; management that automatically notifies system managers if there is a problem, such as a broken fan. Hands-off management saves companies money because IT personnel do not have to monitor the appliance constantly to ensure continued performance.

&uot;Network Engines is demonstrating its innovation in putting together key manageability and availability features into a slim-designed Internet appliance server,&uot; said James Gruener, Managing Director of Windows 2000 Platforms at Aberdeen Group. &uot;Network Engines has already begun to set the pace for Internet appliance servers in 2000 through its packaging and design, and should attract the interest of customers racing to build their Internet hardware architectures.&uot;

New appliances deliver server power for all types of e-business

All Network Engines Internet appliances come &uot;out of the box&uot; ready to operate as stand alone appliances and are &uot;cluster-enabled&uot; to operate with other appliances in the Internet Appliance Architecture. Network Engines' core products include the new WebEngine Roadster, a low cost Intel(R) Celeron-based appliance that operates on either Windows NT(TM) or Linux. The new WebEngine Viper, is a high-powered, dual Intel Pentium III-based appliance that also operates on either Windows NT or Linux. WebEngine Roadster is designed to provide small businesses with Web serving power. WebEngine Viper provides more power for larger organizations that maintain high volumes of Web content.

Network Engines' AdminEngine provides all of the management capabilities an e-business company needs to effectively monitor and control any and all Network Engines appliances in a cluster through a single interface. AdminEngine uses a rules-based program that automatically notifies the manager that something has gone awry. The manager can then use AdminEngine's remote management technology to correct the problem immediately.

Network Engines' CommerceEngine will provide fast, reliable secure transaction processing to e-commerce companies competing for online customers. Secure transaction processing, the ability to process a customer's order submitted over the Internet, is one of the most demanding applications on the Internet. CommerceEngine allows e-commerce companies to reliably process between 50 and 200 transactions per second, meaning that even the most popular online shopping companies can provide their customers the fast service they demand. Coupled with rapid secure transaction processing is a highly secure hardware architecture that prevents hackers from obtaining confidential information.

WebEngine Blazer is the industry's highest density server and the platform for those companies seeking to build their own server application. At 1U high, the Blazer can be configured with dual Pentium III processors at 750 MHz, with up to two 36 GB disk drives, and up to 2 GB RAM.