ATI
FireMV 2400: $419
www.ati.com

we spend so much time talking about the newest hardware
designed to make your life easier that it's easy to lose sight of established standards already proven in the workplace. PCI, for example, is still commonly used as the interface of choice for add-in sound and networking cards, but you'd probably never think to suggest a PCI graphics card. Yet, the aging bus does the trick when you're talking 2D, so don't write it off.

ATI's FireMV 2400—business-class kit in all respects—serves as the perfect example of why PCI still works. The low-profile, half-length board hosts two passively cooled FireMV GPUs and 128 MB of DDR memory. Though conservative by most accounts, a pair of connectors on the card's backside enables four digital DVI outputs at resolutions up to 1600x1200, with analog resolutions peaking at 2048x1536. PCI-based or not, that's a lot of display scalability.

Maxtor
MaXLine Pro 500: $299
www.maxtor.com

There's a clear line between enterprise and desktop storage.
Cross from one to the other at the wrong time and you're either wasting money or selling drives destined to fail. Maxtor's MaXLine family effectively bridges the gap between desktop and enterprise by maintaining mainstream connectivity and greatly improving reliability.

The MaXLine Pro 500 is actually very similar to the desktop DiamondMax 11, available in SATA and PATA trims, spinning at 7,200 RPM, armed with a 16MB data cache, and maxing at an incredibly roomy 500GB. Maxtor guarantees the MaXLine for 1,000,000 hours, though, whereas the DiamondMax's duty cycle isn't even quoted. The MaXLine's warranty covers it for five years compared to one at the desktop level. Don't expect your customer to be pleased if you're replacing failed server hard drives once a year.

Pricing on the MaXLine is much more forgiving than higher-end SCSI and Fibre Channel alternatives, too. The 500GB model should be easy to find with street prices generally ringing in well under $300.

EMC
eRoom SMB Edition
10-user: $995
www.emcinsignia.com

Employees have a hard enough time coordinating and planning in today's hectic workplace when everyone's under one roof. Spread them out across a city or state and the complications only multiply. Microsoft's SharePoint package, already part of Small Business Server 2003, takes a big step forward by organizing thoughts, projects, and files onto one server. But without some training and plenty of hands-on experience, it isn't always easy to navigate.

EMC takes collaboration a step further with eRoom SMB Edition. The Web-based environment is accessible from anywhere and easy to use if only because its graphical interface clearly divides projects, issues, events, and important calendar dates. Moreover, expansion is a piece of cake through 5-, 10-, and 25-user upgrades. The version of SharePoint included with SBS tops out at the operating system's 75-user ceiling. EMC eRoom SMB scales all the way to 250 users.

SonicWALL
SSL-VPN 200: $599
www.sonicwall.com

information sharing is prevalent in almost every business. But for every one customer asking about enabling a remote employee with server access or a contractor with corporate email, I have two concerned about security. Historically, I might have pointed to VPN technology as a secure way to join a business network and check email. Even a traditional VPN can be a pain, though, since it requires client access often unavailable at a public terminal, for example.

SonicWALL's SSL-VPN 200 is an SMB-oriented appliance that delivers VPN functionality over the Web. In other words, it's accessible from anywhere, granting access to files, Outlook Web access, intranets, and corporate Web-based apps without any client software. It enables remote control over servers, too—especially useful for administrators and resellers. And according to SonicWALL, the appliance is robust enough to handle 10 simultaneous VPN tunnels at once.