LG
L1970HR 19" LCD: $419
us.lge.com

It's always a good idea to have a reasonably Priced, solid
performing LCD in your back pocket for the customer looking to ditch CRT technology in favor of a more energy efficient, cooler running display. Perhaps they're currently using a 19" or 21" monitor and would like to stay in the same ballpark without breaking the bank. In that case, LG's L1970HR, demonstrated at this year's CES, will be an attractive option.

The 19" display is reasonably priced at just over $400, yet it's known as the slimmest screen in its class. Your customer will have no problem with connectivity thanks to DVI and analog VGA inputs. Additionally, PC and Mac compatibility ensures universality in a world burdened by proprietary cables and connectors. LG even rates the panel's response time at a screaming 2 ns, yielding optimal performance in games and movies.

ASUS
NCT-D Workstation
Motherboard: $374
usa.asus.com

Workstations delicately blend the Screaming fast performance of enthusiast desktops and rock solid stability normally reserved for servers. They're workhorses, but it isn't uncommon to find a $2,000 graphics card pushing massive 3D numbers. Naturally, a motherboard with the connectivity for workstation-class equipment and uncompromising reliability is a must-have.

ASUS' NCT-D is loaded with every feature a reseller could want on a workstation motherboard. It sports two 604-pin sockets keyed for Xeon processors at up to 3.6 GHz, four memory slots capable of accommodating 8GB of memory, PCI Express x16 expansion for graphics, a PCI Express x8 slot, PCI-X connectivity, Gigabit Ethernet, and an optional SATA RAID controller. Smaller value-adds, such as FireWire and audio, are standard extras.

Attention to detail is a forte for ASUS. The NCT-D's board layout helps ensure that heat doesn't become a point of contention, while a slim ATX profile extends compatibility to the most common chassis type.

EMC
RepliStor SMB Edition: $995
www.emcinsignia.com

Traditionally thought of as an enterprise play, EMC is making
increasing headway into the SMB market with its Insignia product line. The company's RepliStor SMB Edition software differs from the Retrospect backup solution in that it continuously replicates data from one Windows server to a second. According to EMC, everything is copied over, from files and folders to shares and registry keys. Microsoft's Exchange Server is protected, as is SQL Server. Open file replication is a standard feature of the app, too.

Where would you deploy such an application? Think about the customer with a mission critical application running on a 24x7 server. By duplicating the entire machine, that customer is afforded complete protection against failure of the primary system. RepliStor even works remotely, delivering physical protection against fire or theft.

Easy management is perhaps RepliStor's most attractive component to remote administrators. Status checks are quick, Active Directory integration is thorough, and monitoring is simple by virtue of the Windows Performance Monitor.

Supermicro
6014L-M4 1U Barebones Server: $1,000
www.supermicro.com

There's a good chance that you may have never heard of Intel's 65 nm Xeon LV processor, but Supermicro is trying to get the word out because the technology is truly exciting. The Yonah core-based chip runs at speeds of up to 2 GHz, is a true dual-core design, supports dual socket configurations, and comes equipped with the Execute Disable bit. Best of all, the Xeon LV only dissipates 31W of heat—nearly a quarter of the heat from a standard Xeon.

Of course, Supermicro saw the appeal of such a low-power, low-heat, low-noise chip and quickly sprang out of the gates with four barebones server SKUs positioned toward resellers set up to turn the Xeon LV into an SMB-friendly play. Perhaps the most attractive model is the SuperServer 6014L-M4, outfitted with two sockets, eight memory slots for up to 16GB of DDR2 memory, PCI Express, dual Gigabit Ethernet controllers, and onboard SCSI. It'd be hard for any tier-one to beat that combination of value and functionality when paired with a Xeon LV.