MangoSoft Corp has an interesting solution for networking small businesses’ personal computers called Medley, which at $2,400 for ten users the company claims is up to 75% cheaper than a conventional client/server network installation. The 70-person, 1995 Westborough, Massachusetts start-up links a portion of each Windows PC’s hard disk to create what is essentially a shareable drive. It’s a software/hardware combination which presents a single view of shared network resources to the user, who doesn’t – unlike in a conventional peer-to-peer network – need to know the name of the PC where a file is held before accessing it. Medley’s claimed to be easier to set up, use and backup than the peer-to-peer networking bundled in Windows 95. Using the company’s CacheLink technology, all information is redundantly stored on each drive, making the network inherently fault- resilient, with each computer acting as both a client and a server. Medley operates over Ethernet and will require between 50Mb and 75Mb on each PC for the network. Configuration, including IP addressing, driver and network stack installation is said to be automatic. Due in August, a two-user configuration, which includes software and hardware, is priced at $250. The first iteration of the software is designed for small business users although larger network maybe supported in future. It’s being put through OEMs and the channel at first. Retail, European and Asian versions are planned later in the year
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