Ladies and Gentlemen start your appliances…
http://www.cbronline.com/article_news.asp?guid=75F35672-83DA-4CCC-A1ED-F017379E4D34
I saw this article this morning. It is interesting that these appliances are becoming more main stream. Google has the search appliances, Firewalls have, for years been delivered as appliances, and NAS devices have forever been 'appliances' can you say SNAP? What makes this so interesting is twofold. One Microsoft is jumping further into the market, yes I know they have been selling Storage Server as an appliance through Dell and other OEM channels for a couple of years now, and they just launched the Home Server as an appliance. The second is that the function of 'appliances' is becoming more and more complex. While they were originally just a single function box…I need Storage, I'll get a NAS, or I need a firewall with Stateful Packet Inspection and ip filters, I'll get an Insert-brand-name-here, this latest round of 'boxes' are more complex providing a greater simplification of IT Assets, in terms of deployment and management.
So where is all this going? The 'BI Boxes' are targeted at the Enterprise, for customers who are deploying multi-million dollar data warehouses, but it won't be long until they scale that down, and what greater fit than an SBS box. The target customer is looking for simplicity, cost-effectiveness, and above all they want to be do-it-yourselfers. After all that's how they got to being where they are, by doing it themselves. I should restate it. I see a 'new' level of SBS-Micro, designed for 2-25 users, that provides Email, File and Print Services, integrated Authentication, Security, firewall, Portal/Intranet, etc.
And before you say oh this could never work…Let's think for a moment. Most servers deployed fall into 1 of 2 categories. The first is single application deployment. There company needs to run their accounting application, and it has to have an isolated environment…Can you say Appliance??? The other is in a multi-application environment, can you say SBS? And today, when we 'build an SBS' box, what are you doing? Building from the ground up? Are you doing a ton of customization? Are you doing it at the console or remotely from a network attached client? When I build out a new SBS box, it typically goes like this, install at the work bench before it goes onsite. While offsite, I run through most of the config wizards for the server. Then once onsite, I am ready to do a couple of the wizards and attach clients, at this point all remotely. I tend to deploy headless SBS, because +99% of the admin is done remotely, the other <1% is pushing the freakin' button, after a failed update and reboot sequence.
So I see a lot of opportunity in the future for SBS appliances. I can see it now, one box is the 'phone system', another box is the firewall/router/WAP/gigabit Switch, another is the NAS/iSCSI SAN, and another is the SBS Box. A well thought out, designed and tested system like that could come in VERY cost-effectively and provide a tremendous value to any small business. Can the OEM channel deliver this? I doubt it. Can the retail channel deliver this? Not directly. No, the VAR and ISV, is still the solutions provider, just the tools will be changing. Yes, commoditization will continue, but the VAR and ISV is still relevant, if not mandatory in this new model.