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The SLC16 stood out in our tests for two reasons. First, it's the only appliance to allow for front-panel configuration, a key consideration for some remote or wiring-closet installations. Second, it has the most complete internal administration and reporting capabilities of the three units we tested.
Like the other systems we looked at, the SLC16 provides external authentication, in this case through RADIUS, LDAP, CHAP, PAP and NIS servers, in addition to a local-user authentication database. We could also use SSH encryption for traffic to and from the SLC16.
Whereas the Cyclades and Digi console servers have features and documented examples that focus heavily on server and network infrastructure control, the SLC16's menus are suited to controlling modems, network connection interfaces, and those appliances that contain or make use of modems and other communications interfaces (such as DSL or ISDN) for extended control of, or reporting to, other devices and services. It's not that the device won't serve as a gateway to a rack of firewalls and routers, but parameters like Connect at Time, Flow Direction and Dialing Instructions--appearing as they do on high-level menus, as opposed to being buried in subsidiary menus or configuration files--exhibit Lantronix's focus on devices that have multiple communications interfaces for failover, or multiple-channel control and communications with their peers or other appliances. The SLC16 also is the only unit we tested with redundant power supplies for high availability, making it more viable in a critical remote-communications closet.
We easily set the SLC16 to control modems with dialing instructions given in these menus. Like the other systems tested, the SLC16 effectively breaks connections on a power outage and reboots quickly. But unlike the others, it has an easily configurable time-out parameter for Web interface sessions, making it a breeze to adapt the SLC16's behavior to fit our specific security requirements. The Lantronix system also offers SSL-based Web access.
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