The Test Center's Picks For The Latest In Appliances

The CRN Test Center highlights some of the more noteworthy appliances to come through the lab so far this year. Appliance vendors vary in specialty--from security, archiving and compliance, networking and unified communications. Here are some products that manged to stand out.

This network-attached storage device offers 2 TB of storage capacity. With 2-Gigabit Ethernet ports, a print server, backup and antivirus software, the 1U appliance comes with four 750-GB, hot-swappable SATA drives. Speed is impressive when reading and writing large files. Partners can add other backup and storage-management tools to the system.

SPECIFICATIONS
Print server, backup software with virtual library, antivirus, remote administration, RAID 0,1,5, FTP server, iSCSI target support, supports Active Directory

BOTTOM LINE/RATINGS
While there are many other vendors offering network attached storage devices, Adaptec Snap Server 520 offers a complete solution. Price: $4,291 to $5,775

For the SMB that requires enterprise-class features, NetVanta switches are combination IP-PBX, PoE switch and QoS-enabled router. There are options for creating ring groups, auto-attendant, paging, user directories and call coverage lists. Analog, virtual and physical SIP phones are supported.

SPECIFICATIONS
802.3af connectivity, wireless controller capabilities and Gigabit uplink ports, nonblocking switching, VLANs, QoS Link Aggregation, TCL scripting

BOTTOM LINE/RATINGS
Adtran NetVanta gives businesses some flexibility in rolling out office-in-a-box solutions while keeping them affordable. Price: Starts at $545 per seat

Akorri's BalancePoint is a cross-domain monitoring appliance that maps applications across virtual hosts and virtualized storage environments. It offers real-time analytical information of applications, including maps of how they exist and interact across physical devices and virtual environments. Data is collected from remote protocols such as WMI, SSH and SMI-S.

SPECIFICATIONS
Real-time analysis, application and connection maps, agentless, supports SAN

BOTTOM LINE/RATINGS
BalancePoint provides visibility in its application and connection maps to take the guesswork out of monitoring. Price: $3,995

ContentWatch offers its Security Appliance CP100 for content filtering. It reports which users are going to which sites, but also applies and enforces Internet usage policies. It has intelligent scanning tools to identify compromised sites. Policies can be defined to restrict access to files and URLs. Rules can restrict bandwidth allocated to a user group.

SPECIFICATIONS
Manage remote subnets and VLAN, LDAP support, time-based restrictions on Internet usage, bandwidth allocation, restricted URL lists

BOTTOM LINE/RATINGS
Helps make security simple by boiling everything down to a wizard and provides thorough help documentation. Price: NA

The edgeBox contains a router, IP-PBX, QoS utilities and Wi-Fi. EdgeBox combines open-source Asterisk telephony software and open-source networking tools such as the LAMP stack. Its firewall supports network access control, the e-mail server has antispam and antivirus scanning capabilities and the Web server performs Web filtering.

SPECIFICATIONS
Router, IP-PBX, QoS, file and print server, Wi-Fi, LDAP, Active Directory, RADIUS, firewall, network access control, Web filtering, Web server, VPN, FTP

BOTTOM LINE/RATINGS
EdgeBox offers advanced enterprise-ready features that are normally not available to the SMB. Price: Varies by seat

Finjan Vital Security scans each piece of incoming and outgoing Web content on HTTP, HTTPS and FTP using static and dynamic code inspection and automatically blocks anything with malicious code. Finjan supports URL filtering to classify domains in categories and can restrict access. It also inspects SSL traffic while keeping the contents encrypted.

SPECIFICATIONS
Protects from crimeware, Web 2.0 attacks, spyware, phishing, Trojans, and malicious code; checks Web, SSL traffic and rules for URL categories

BOTTOM LINE/RATINGS
Keeps out malicious code on the Web that can damage hardware and steal data. Price: Varies by users; $4,210 for 10 users

Kerio's software is an alternative to Exchange—easier to deploy and manage—that has handheld support, calendaring, e-mail, contact list and remote access. Available as a virtual appliance through the VMware marketplace, it can work on Windows, Red Hat, SuSE Linux and Mac OS X. Users can continue to use Microsoft Outlook, making the swap transparent.

SPECIFICATIONS
Calendars, contact lists, e-mail, Web mail, antivirus, content-filtering, archiving, Active Directory and LDAP support

BOTTOM LINE/RATINGS
Solution providers can configure the appliance just like any other mail server. Price: Licenses vary by users, starting at $499

This database threat management appliance is based on a software platform comprised of Windows, Linux and Solaris and offers tools for incident detection, remediation and reporting. It utilizes SPAN ports on switches and network taps or hubs to replicate database traffic. There is a browser-based management interface and a console

SPECIFICATIONS
Supports Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, Oracle, DB2 and Sybase; also supports Red Hat, CentOS, Solaris operating systems

BOTTOM LINE/RATINGS
It's not plug-and-play, but the hassles are worth it to get information about the network and to tweak it. Price: Starts at $3,600

This all-in-one product handles automated encryption, antispam and antivirus filtering, archiving and digital signature. The boxes vary, ranging from 100 mailboxes for the SMB to 2,500-plus for the enterprise. It can process more than 166,000 messages per day and be upgraded to 10-Gigabit or Fibre Channel.

SPECIFICATIONS
Policy-based antivirus and antispam filtering, message quarantine, Challenge/Response, archiving, PGP/S/MIME-based encryption

BOTTOM LINE/RATINGS
Unified appliance that makes archiving affordable and easier to manage. Price: Varies by module, starts at $1,300

An all-in-one Network Access Control appliance, Safe Access is deployed as an enforcement server either inline, DHCP or 802.1x. Authorization is based on the physical device's level of compliance with end-point security requirements. There is some roles-based authorization, but it is very limited and depends on the connection method, not the user profile.

SPECIFICATIONS
Supports DHCP, RADIUS; authentication using RDBMS or LDAP; can customize policy for users connecting via VPN; checks for most key antivirus products

BOTTOM LINE/RATINGS
Robust and customizable, justifying adding a NAC as an extra layer of security. Price: As low as $20 per IP address for 2,500 users

Sutus combines a router, domain controller, wireless access point and file and e-mail server into a single box that measures 9 by 11 by 4 inches. It also offers security and core telephony functions. A single Web-browser-based interface sets up the firewall, installs wireless networking, configures the VPN and records the auto-attendant greeting for the phone system.

SPECIFICATIONS
Router, domain controller, wireless access point, file and e-mail server, security functions, telephony, Power over Ethernet, Web server, supports Polycom

BOTTOM LINE/RATINGS
Hits the SMB right with its physical size, powerful networking telephony features. Price: $3,995 for up to nine users, $5,445 for 10 or more

Xsigo manages the traffic across virtual network adapters and SANs with proprietary virtual host-bus adapter architecture. Xsigo sells specialized host channel adapter cards that must be connected to manage each server. Quality of service on vNICs and vHBAs are managed through profiles

SPECIFICATIONS
780-Gbps bandwidth backbone, I/O gateway, expansion slot for 24 ports, hot-swappable slots for 10-Gbps network and Fibre Channel

BOTTOM LINE/RATINGS
A virtual LAN in a box, the VP 780 eliminates the need for multiple physical connections. Price: NA