Intel Corp has added analog modem bonding to its InBusiness Internet Station, a thin server aimed at the small business connectivity market. Now users can combine two or three 56Kbps analog connections to deliver internet access at 112 or 168Kbps. Bundling three modems to an Internet Station should yield a connection faster than a dual ISDN line. Intel expects the product to be particularly popular in regions not yet served by ISDN.
The InBusiness product line, which also includes hubs, switches and email and print servers, was introduced at the beginning of 1998 to address the needs of businesses with fewer than 50 staff. Small business adopt technology in stages, explains product marketing engineer Lee Cormier. By his reckoning, stage 1 is a PC or standalone computer. Stage 2 involves connecting a number of these with a hub or a switch. By the time small businesses reach stage 3, they discover that full client/server systems can be very expensive. Cormier describes their reaction to a $5,000- $6,000 price tag as sticker shock.
The Internet Station is a complete unit that enables small businesses to have all the benefits of a big internet connection at a fraction of the cost, Cormier claims. The Internet Station boasts two PC card slots where internal modems can be plugged in, plus a serial port for connectivity to a third modem. Three is, however, the upper limit for modems, so businesses that need to scale past 168K must seek another solution.
The thin servers in the InBusiness range run what Cormier calls: Purposed operating systems, identified to do a single task very well. The Internet Station runs VXWorks, though a web interface has been added to mask the complexity of the OS for non-technical users. In spite of the increasing popularity of Linux in thin server applications, Cormier says Intel is not looking at switching to the open source operating system for this product family. There isn’t really a need to, he says, we’re really just looking for a way to reduce our customers’ costs. á
