NETWORKING REVIEW

EmergeCore IT-100 review

6.8

Editors' Rating

Design		6.0
Features		9.0
Setup & ease of use		6.0
Performance		6.0

Alan Stevens

Published: 12 Oct 2004

Described as 'IT in a box', the IT-100 from EmergeCore is designed to provide just about everything needed on a small business server. That includes not just file, email and Web servers, but a full set of gateway security services, including anti-virus scanning, spam blocking and VPN remote access. Browser-based mail access is also provided, added to which the appliance hosts EmergeCore’s own CRM (Customer Relationship Management) application.

The hardware is fairly modest, including a Transmeta Crusoe processor, 128MB of RAM and a 20GB hard disk. That’s enough to support, typically, around 15-20 users, although there are no client licensing issues to worry about, so more can be configured. LAN/WAN connectivity is handled by an integrated 4-port 10/100Mbps Ethernet switch with a 54Mbps 802.11g wireless interface also included if required.

As with all the appliances we have examined, the IT-100 is designed to be deployed as a gateway with limited functionality if configured as a standalone server. DHCP and DNS servers come as standard, along with a port forwarding firewall, all of which prove easy to manage. The appliance can also act as VPN server for both site-to-site and site-to-client connections using IPSec or PPTP protocols, although client software isn’t provided.

The Web-based management interface, CoreVista, is easy to use and includes an activity summary and status display. An express setup wizard is also included to step you through the initial configuration, but unfortunately it doesn’t go very far and a fair amount of manual setup work is still required. Moreover, the supporting documentation (held electronically on the server) isn’t that detailed, with little information to help administrators or users.

On the file sharing front, there’s support for both Windows and Apple Mac systems, but the IT-100 can’t act as a Windows Domain or WINS server. You do get a Web server and an SMTP email server with POP3 client support. A browser-based email client (SquirrelMail) is also provided, but this isn’t as functional as some, with no real groupware functionality.

On the plus side, all users can be given access to the shared CRM application. And multiple domains can be configured for both email and Web servers with fully supported antivirus protection and a spam blocker to protect users.

Finally, it’s possible to manage access to services on the appliance at the user level and schedule backups to either a remote Windows share or local USB-attached storage devices.