So what are the ingredients that make the 6300 such a tasty offering? Start with a tool-less access 7U rack-mount or free-standing chassis. Then populate it with Quad Pentium III Xeons and up to 4 GB of ECC RAM. Add a 64-bit Intel Pro/1000 gigabit NIC and an Adaptec- based AAC-364 64-bit RAID controller with up to 128 MB of cache. Optimize file I/O through the use of triple-peer PCI and I2O-compliant peripherals. Let boot for approximately one minute and serve hot.

The 6300 also does a fine job addressing of both management and fault tolerance. The server comes with a special edition of Hewlett-Packard Co.'s OpenView Network Node Manager (NNM) for its console alerting. Additionally, an optional Dell Remote Assistant Card can be installed for those times that the server may not be responding. The 6300 also incorporates important fault monitoring for fan, voltage and thermal conditions, and automatic recovery in case of lockup.

--Dave Fetters

Network-Attached Storage

Winner

Network Appliance Filer 760, Network Applicance, (408) 367-3000 www.netapp.com

Finalists

UDSS DNA DiskARRAY, Legacy Storage Systems Corp., (800) 361-5685, (905) 475-1077 www.legacy.ca MetaStor SH850 Intelligent Storage Hub, LSI Logic Storage Systems, (888) METASTOR www.metastor.com

Award: Network-Attached Storage
While the so-called experts debated the death of SCSI and the rise of the Storage Area Network (SAN), a relatively old technology with a new mission stole the thunder in the storage arena last year. Network Attached Storage (NAS) quickly became a hot topic with its ability to connect petabytes of data directly to any network, bypassing server I/O bottlenecks and putting huge amounts of storage instantly online.

When we examined the network storage market, it became clear that there were at least three distinct categories of products: small business NAS devices with about 20 GBs of storage; departmental or workgroup devices with less than 100 GBs; and full-blown enterprise devices with more than 100 GBs. We looked at several of the enterprise class devices, and the clear overall winner was Network Appliance's Network Appliance Filer 760.

The rack-mounted and thoroughly modular NetApp Filer not only served up superior performance on our benchmarks, it also delivered a host of administrative control. This $176,400 system served up 232 GB of data storage and 1 GB of RAM. The system had SCSI, FC-AL, 10/100BASE-T and RS-232 ports, plus a pair of quad 10/100BASE-T adapters. With support for both NFS and CIFS protocols, the unit is ready to rock with Unix or Windows in an instant.

Despite the complexity of the system, setup was remarkably easy, thanks largely to an excellent set of administrative tools and well-designed components. Overall, we cannot think of another product that comes closer to delivering nirvana on a set of platters for enterprise storage administration.

--David Harvey

Windows-Based Terminal

Winner

ThinSTAR 200, Network Computing Devices, (800) 800-9599, (650) 694-0650 www.ncd.com

Finalists

Viewpoint TC, Boundless Technologies, (800) 231-5445, (516) 342-7400 www.boundless.com Neoware NeoStation 220 Windows-based Terminal, NeoWare Systems, (800) NEOWARE, (610) 277-8300 www.neoware.com

Award: Windows-Based Terminals
Truth be told, Windows-based terminals are not terribly exciting devices. They lack the power of high-end workstations and the multimedia capabilities of traditional PCs. However, they are serving an increasingly important role in many organizations that are moving away from character-oriented dumb terminals or looking for ways to simplify the desktop computing environment for workers who spend most of their day working on two or three different applications.

Network Computing Devices' ThinSTAR line represents the state of the art in this product class, offering an intelligent balance of features and performance at an affordable price. Available for as little as $399, the ThinSTAR 200 runs Windows CE and provides support for Microsft's RDP protocol as well as Citrix ICA protocol. The ThinSTAR 300 is the first WBT built to conform to Intel's Lean Client specification. Under the ThinSTAR umbrella, NCD also offers a number of add-on software components, including terminal emulation, audio support, and server load-balancing. And its management software lets administrators easily maintain a large geographically dispersed installation of ThinSTAR devices. NCD's recent acquisition of Tektronix's thin-client business, coupled with strong product offerings in its Explora network computer line, makes the company the leading provider of thin-client solutions.

For honorable mention, we chose Boundless Technologies Viewpoint TC and the NeoStation 220 from Neoware Systems. Boundless' Viewpoint WBTs, when combined with the company's recently introduced low-cost Capio line, gives the vendor a strong and diverse product line. Neoware offers aggressive pricing and a hardware architecture that supports a variety of thin-client operating systems.

--Dave Molta

Workgroup Server

Winner

ProLiant 1850R, Compaq Computer Corp., (800) 345-1518 www.compaq.com

Finalists

Density Series Server System, Cubix Corp., (800) 829-0550, (775) 888-1000 www.cubix.com Dell PowerEdge 2300, Dell Computer Corp., (800) BUY-DELL, (512) 338-4400 www.dell.com/products/poweredge

Award: Workgroup Servers
Although designed for the workgroup environment, Compaq Computer Corp.'s ProLiant 1850R inherits many features from its older siblings. In a market that has largely overlooked rack-optimized workgroup servers, the 1850R stands out. With its small 3U form factor, the 1850R eliminates the need for bulky towers. The features and performance of this tiny titan make it ideal for centralized data centers or any other high-density server applications.

Unlike the previous generation 850R, the1850R boasts sliding rails and front-mounted status LEDs. Scalability is addressed with support for two half-height removable media devices along with four internal PCI slots. Compaq's familiar Insight Manager handles management along with an integrated remote console. The 1850R emphasizes fault tolerance with its Smart Array RAID controller coupled with three 1-inch hot-swappable drive bays. The server also makes use of two hot-plug redundant power supplies.

Some of the performance features that make the 1850R shine include dual processor Pentium II capability and support for up to 1 GB of ECC memory. To handle file I/O, the 1850R integrates a dual channel Wide-Ultra SCSI-3 controller. The 1850 also features an embedded 10/100TX NIC.

Both Cubix Corp.'s Desity Server 1000 and Dell Computer Corp.'s PowerEdge 2300 receive honorable mention.

--Dave Fetters