While every SME will acknowledge the need for ICT in their organisation, budgets are limited and expertise is not a ready resource, leading many small companies to make the most of the infrastructure that already exists in their organisations.

Add to this, the fact that SMEs generally focus on the performance of their client side machines, and either recycle a retired desktop or buy a new desktop to deploy as a server and you have a recipe for disaster.

"Desktop computers are not designed to act as servers, since they are not built with the reliability and software compatibility that servers are expected to deliver in business today," says Greg Pothitos, product manager at Tarsus Technologies. "With the new server offerings from HP aimed at SME companies and available through Tarsus, the decision to deploy a desktop as a server will no longer even be in question."

"The ML110 server from HP offers enterprise level reliability and performance at a price that also will not damage the pocket," Pothitos says.

With a starting dealer price of R5 999, this unit comes standard with Pentium 4 processing power, 256MB of RAM which is upgradeable to 4GB, the choice of either SCSI (Maximum storage capacity of 288GB), ATA (maximum storage capacity of 480GB).

"What is truly valuable to the SME is the fact that with the ML110, administrators have the ability to implement data protection through the use of Serial ATA-based RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks) technology," Pothitos continues.

Another standard feature on the ML110 is the 1GB NIC which ensures that the machine performs at its peak on the network.

"Since the server is where the real value of an organisation resides, SMEs should be focusing on better reliability and better piece of mind," says Pothitos. "With the prices of these servers as low as this for the value customers will be getting, we predict an end to using desktop computers as servers," he concludes.

From iTWeb