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Axentra Net-Box Home Network Appliance

By Alexander Grundner | January 27th, 2005 Interest Level: SMOKING HOT


axentra net-boxThe one box to rule them all. Is the Axentra Net-Box the all-in-one device D-Link’s CEO was predicting back in December? Not sure if it is or not, but the Axenta has already won several awards this month at CES for creating a Windows/Linux/Mac compatible device that functions as an Internet gateway, firewall, 802.11g access point, and web/email/file server. Seriously, what more can you ask for, right? The only bummer is that the initial offering comes up a little short on built-in storage (two versions: H-70 $499/80GB and H-90 $699/160GB). But if it’s any consolation, users can easily add external USB 2.0 storage drives as needed.

Features:

  • Set up your home network in just a few minutes with Net-Box’s wizard driven setup
  • Easily manage your entire home network from one integrated web-based toolbox
  • Network all your computers together (Net-Box is Windows, Mac and Linux compatible)
  • Expand your network with built-in wireless (802.11g) access point features
  • Share your broadband connection among all your computers
  • Create and control your own email addresses
  • Keep hackers and spammers away from your network and your email
  • Host your website and publish your photos and videos to the world
  • Share your printers among all your computers
  • Backup and synchronize your desktop files with your Net-Box
  • Access your files from anywhere from any platform
  • Enjoy a fully integrated web-based productivity suite featuring email, contacts, calendar, file management, file sharing, photo publishing, notes and more!
  • Use any IMAP email clients and LDAP PIM applications such as MS-Outlook, MS-Entourage, Netscape, Eudora Mail, or Mozilla to connect to your Net-Box’s email and address book server

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Short URL: http://bit.ly/9qGcjx [+]  Filed in: Digital Media Servers  
____________
Alexander Grundner is the Editor & Publisher of eHomeUpgrade. He has been following "Digital Home" developments since 2003. He's also a fan of cross-platform, open development software and industry standards related to media, networking, and the web. You can catch his daily tech musings on Twitter: @agrundner.
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  • kauka
    Axentra discontinued the NetBox servers in Dec. 2005, they still

    sell the software to install on a pc. That is on a PC with ata drives,


    not sata or scsi.


    Other posts objected to the price, the H-70 was $500, later


    $300 when they were closing them out. Sure, you can install


    Linux, Windows, etc. and try to implement all of the features


    of the NetBox , but it will take a lot of time, and try to


    get a good Webmail program working, along with file sharing,


    email, web server, automatic lan pc backups, blogs, dynamic


    dns, etc. SME server was one that I had done, but it


    lacks many of the features.


    I had a Cobalt Qube2 and 3 for a while, they had a few of


    the NetBox features, but were $2000 back in their day.


    They had good following, now you can get them for


    $100-$300 but no more parts/support, and the OS and apps


    are dated.


    Another objection is that it only has 1 lan port. So buy a


    5 or 8 or 24 port 100mb. switch, it will only cost you 30--100bucks.


    I was very disappointed when Axentra quit selling the servers.


    With better marketing, it would have been a winner for


    small businesses and home office/business use.


    The only drawbacks that I saw were non-redundant power supply and hard drive, altho you could copy your data to a external


    usb hard drive.


    There really isn't / wasn't any competition, there have been


    a few server appliances with similar functionality in the


    $2000+ range.


    What would it cost to buy a pc/server and MS SBS, and


    then to install/configure it, etc?


    Looks like maybe there isn't / wasn't market demand for


    these network server appliances.
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