By Jason Stamper
Privately-held network-enabling specialist Lantronix is apparently gearing up to launch a new version of its Universal Thin Server at the Networld + Interop trade show running from September 14-16 in Atlanta. The Irvine, California-based company told Computerwire that it would neither confirm nor deny that the new Universal Thin Server will be its first foray into the wireless connectivity market, though we have it on good authority that it will.
The company’s Universal Thin Server family is said to network- enable all manner of devices which ordinarily could only communicate with a dedicated local PC or control panel from the likes of remote data collection devices such as blood analyzers and temperature sensors to security systems; workstations to routers. Until now the Universal Thin Servers have relied on a Local Area Network, rather than being able to take advantage of a Wireless Area Network. Offering wireless connectivity will open up the Thin Server to far more applications such as warehouse stock control, where being able to move around untethered by a cable is crucial.
The Universal Thin Server range is aimed at manufacturers, system integrators and end users and there’s also a version which device manufacturers can embed straight into their boards. Footprints are as low as 65K for some members of the range, the company says. It reckons there are millions of devices worldwide that would benefit from being on a network, and points to Dataquest figures which predict a market of $16bn by 2003 for just this kind of network-enabling technology.
As long as a device has a serial port, Lantronix says it will connect it to the internet and shared networks quickly and cost- effectively, eliminating the need for dedicated PCs and local control panels. As well as industrial-type devices, which are often not network-ready, Lantronix says there are advantages in attaching humble workstations, hubs and routers to its thin servers. Many functions, like partitioning disks on a Sun Sparcstation, for example, can be carried out remotely via the thin server – because it operates at the console layer – but not via a standard LAN.
Lantronix’ Thin Servers support TCP/IP, IPX and LAT protocols, and run the company’s own operating system based on a modified Unix kernel. Whilst the company is better known for its more traditional print and terminal servers, it says its primary focus now is on putting more unusual devices on the network.
