Cisco
AP1131AG Access Point: $500
www.cisco.com

Last Month we spent some time talking about the value in high-end networking hardware. I know that I'm guilty of making quick runs to CompUSA for SOHO equipment when a customer needs wireless in a hurry, but that approach is perilous at best. After all, who wants to pay you hundreds to install a $50 router? It's better to think ahead and present a total network solution rather than patchwork.

With a product such as Cisco's AP1131AG access point, you can enable unprecedented wireless security, up to 108 Mbps performance, and connectivity with 802.11a/b/g clients. There's more value in the deal for your customer, higher margin for you, and a service opportunity as custom features are implemented. The idea is to expose the same level of security and manageability found on wired networks more effectively—not an easy task given the failure of WEP.

The current AP1131AG firmware supports 15 non-overlapping channels and a planned upgrade adds seven more, resulting in fewer interference issues. Variable transmit power lets you as a VAR tune the environment for maximum coverage or close-proximity spacing using omni-directional transmission. UL 2043 ratings even allow you to mount the access point above ceilings in plenum areas Security on the AP1131AG is air-tight. It features hardware-acceleration of AES encryption, compliance with the 802.11i standard, and backwards compatibility with older security features. When it comes to servicing a growing SMB, presenting enterprise-class protection is far better than an aging WPA implementation, especially if the customer is savvy to wireless standards.

Just bear in mind that most Cisco products are designed to work together as part of an infrastructure. To get the most benefit from the access point, you also need secure access control servers and wireless LAN solution engines, unifying products that tie network components together.

Seagate
Cheetah 15K.4 146GB 15,000 RPM SAS Hard Drive; $1,300
www.seagate.com

Are you ready for sas (serial attached scsi)? The next-generation enterprise drive technology is here, today. We've already discussed available host bus controllers, and now Seagate is rolling out the drives themselves. But first, what does SAS mean to your server and workstation customers? To begin, SAS enables flexibility through backwards compatibility with SATA technology. Combine SAS and SATA drives on an entry-level server to balance out capacity, performance, reliability, and price. SAS is massively scalable through aggregate bandwidth, and it's designed for 24x7 duty cycles, too.

Seagate's first implementation of SAS is manifest in the Cheetah 15K.4 line of enterprise hardware. Spinning at 15,000 RPM, you can expect to serve up seek times in the 3.3 ms range with sustained transfers of up to 96 MBps. That's a bit more than an average PCI bus can handle, so make sure your server platforms support PCI-X or PCI Express to accommodate a SAS controller card. Capacities range from 36GB to 146GB, depending on your application and budget.

Reliability is an integral component of Seagate's enterprise message. The Cheetah 15K.4 boasts a 1.4 million-hour full duty cycle MTBF that's backed by a five-year warranty. A background media scan feature proactively monitors the drive's physical properties during idle time to detect potential defects. Errors can then be corrected using enhanced correction code without any data loss. Shock resistance protects the Cheetah in large drive chasses that would reduce the life of a SATA drive.

If your customer isn't quite ready to make a jump to SAS, the Cheetah is also sold in Ultra320 SCSI and 2 Gbit Fibre Channel interfaces, representing the full range of established enterprise technologies. Those products feature similar performance characteristics and identical longevity stats.

Creative
Zen Vision: $399
www.creative.com

When it comes to media playback on the road, laptops are so yesterday. If you really want to wow your customers with a traveling media center, introduce them to Creative Labs' new Zen Vision, a lightweight, handheld portable media player elegantly housed in magnesium alloy. Even with its rechargeable lithium ion battery, the Zen only weighs 239g.

An onboard 30GB hard drive is more than enough for time-shifted TV content, ripped MPEG-2, DivX, and XviD movies, PlaysForSure audio and video, plus all of the MP3s and pictures you can store. The 3.7” LCD isn't conducive to group viewing, but the crisp 640x480 is perfect for personal use. Audio is routed out of a 1/8” mini jack to headphones or, you can use the internal speaker for playback. Expect about 13 hours of continuous audio playback from one full charge or roughly 4.5 hours of video.

At $400, Creative's newest Zen is a pricey piece of work. Then again, it's also the most polished and complete personal media player we've seen to date. The inclusion of a personal organizer strengthens its position, especially since it syncs right up to Microsoft Outlook.

Belkin
PureAV HDMI Interface Audio Video Cable: $99
www.pureav.com

More and more, multimedia enthusiasts understand that the interconnects they use make a difference in the audio and video quality coming from their home theater equipment. I've finally sworn all my friends away from composite and S-video connections. Component is next to go.

The latest theater toys all feature HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface), an all-digital interface capable of transporting high-definition video and eight channels of 24-bit audio over one cable, all uncompressed. It's great for fixed-pixel displays because it matches the native resolution of your source with the display. Setup is also much easier since audio and video all travel down a single interconnect.

Belkin's PureAV HDMI lineup is poised to deliver the best possible fidelity thanks to silver-plated conductors, quad-shielding, and special dielectric materials. You can buy lengths between 4 and 16 feet, all of which are easy to install.

HDMI shares backward compatibility with DVI, though you'll need an adapter to make the physical connection. Consequentially, you can stock PureAV cables, knowing that a slow transition to HDMI through equipment designs will encourage more of your customers to upgrade their setups, yielding a better user experience in the process.

Intel
SC5275GP2 Integrated Server Platform: $650
www.intel.com

If you're getting started in the server market and would rather leave the configuration details to other professionals, check out Intel's line of integrated server platforms consisting of chasses, motherboards, and power supplies. You're left with the responsibility of populating the box with a processor, memory, storage, and I/O, leaving plenty of room for differentiation as you lean on a seasoned veteran for the backbone components.

The heart of Intel's SC5275GP2 is an SE7525GP2 motherboard, ready to take up to two Xeon processors on 800 MHz front side buses. It centers on the E7525 chipset, primarily intended for workstation use but also apt at server duties. You can install up to 8GB of DDR 266/333 memory in the board's four 184-pin slots, and they have to be registered. ECC support is optional.

Expansion is plentiful due to the platform's multi-purpose design. A pair of 32-bit PCI slots handle small-scale peripheral upgrades while two 66MHz PCI-X slots shoulder the heavier loads of disk controllers. There's a x4 PCI Express connector capable of accommodating 10 Gbps communications. Finally, one PCI Express x16 slot paves the way for any modern graphics card—perfect if you're looking to build a workstation machine. Onboard features include Gigabit Ethernet, USB 2.0, two SATA ports, a management controller, an integrated ATI Rage XL video controller, and a dual-channel IDE controller.

The chassis is a pedestal design with a lockable front door and steel construction. It's attractive, roomy, and durable. Two bundled system fans and one power supply fan ensure the entire platform stays within Intel's thermal specification, and a bundled 600W power supply guarantees stability even if you populate both processor sockets. In all, the barebones server package from Intel is a great way to stay safe with plenty of room to customize.