The growth in wireless networking is well documented, as is the seemingly endless appetite for security solutions, arguably the sector for which 9/11 had only positive repercussions. But one area out of the main focus, yet subject to exponential growth, is the ‘appliance’ based solutions market, a market that international research giants IDC states as being worth some $13 billion worldwide. No mean figure for a sector that is little understood…

The principal concepts behind appliances are easily understood. Like domestic appliances, IT appliances serve particular and specific functions. So, as you would expect to have a separate cooker, washing machine and dishwasher, each with their own, well-defined domestic function, so too in the office environment you are expected to use separate appliances for applications such as file and print, security, Web services, etc.

Where then, are the really interesting applications that are providing market stimulus? Five years ago pundits were predicting that the major drivers for demand would come from SMEs lapping up opportunities to buy low-cost, pre-built systems that served all of their small business needs but did not require expensive, outsourced IT consultants to configure and manage them. Here we are talking Internet access, mail, file storage, print services and other similar functions, all provided in a neat and easy to install box, or series of boxes, quietly stacked in the corner of the office, like a set of hi-fi components.

As an example, one of the oldest players in the UK appliance market, Equiinet, started by addressing the needs of the SME, but soon changed track when it became apparent that SMEs are particularly resilient when it come sto having hard earned cash prised from their firmly sealed wallets! Especially with so many having had their fingers burned badly in thepast with unwise investments in unnecessary technologies. So, rather than finding the “all in one” SME solution was sufficient in itself to encourage buyers, instead, growth came from specialist needs, such as local caching - just one of several features built into the appliance. And customers for these early appliance solutions came not from the SME sector, but from medium to large organisations requiring tens and hundreds of boxes.

In recent times, appliance companies have discovered enormous potential in the education sector, which has again encouraged the development of specialist solutions. The education sector is set to be particularly well served by appliance vendors where value for money is always paramount and the concept of a succinct, standalone solution that works out of the box with minimal training is particularly appealing.

The growth in the appliance market is clearly coming from niche solutions or vertical market applications, for which an appliance-based approach has particular and obvious attractions. Accordingly, appliances in general have common appeal. The basic premise of an appliance is that you don’t have to wrestle with Cdbased software installations to build your application and then spend days getting it working. The idea is to simply unpack the box, wire it up, power it up and - there you go - a working, installed system. Beyond this, common to most appliances is a browser-based user interface that, in theory at least, enables simple straightforward configuration as and when necessary. That said, in the past we’ve seen many less than perfect examples, but equally some excellent, totally intuitive interfaces. The benefits of keeping it simple include less downtime through human error and the obvious saving on not requiring expensive training courses and ongoing consulting support. So, somewhat ironically, the most successful appliances to date have appealed more to the larger SMEs and large corporate users, in stark contradiction to the early market fortune tellers. But this is hardly surprising when you consider that most technological innovation over the years has found its formative markets in this sector. Security appliances were the first to achieve mass market appeal. Indeed, it was probably this market that accelerated Nokia’s presence as a mainstream IT supplier with its strategic relationship with Checkpoint, arguably one of the most successful IT start-ups of recent times and a great example to countless pretenders. This magazine provides clear evidence of the importance of the ‘appliance’ bandwagon, with Symantec having adopted this approach with their VPN series of Firewalls. What’s that about old dogs and new tricks? Surely more interesting still are the ‘around the corner’ technologies that are set to drive second generation development and catapult the appliance industry into its second stage of growth towards mass market, long-term acceptance. This publication features two notable entrants to the appliance market place. The Expand packet shaper allows you to transmit more data through your existing networks, an interesting and relatively new application for which the benefits are easily defined. By supplying the application as an appliance, it works independently of other network system elements, affording suppliers an opportunity to promote the system irrespective of the existing infrastructure. Possibly more important, users can assess the systems features and capabilities without necessarily being tied into an incumbent vendor that may have less appropriate solutions.

Equally interesting is the Toshiba Network Monitor, as it attempts to introduce a fundamentally new approach to a well-established and oft-abused market sector; network management. This, like many previously successful products - not least Lotus Notes - was born out of frustration. Invented by academics within Manchester University, the system is being commercially exploited by Mutiny who in conjunction with Toshiba identified a market opportunity that could only be satisfied with an appliance-based solution. Having observed the network management market sector since the early ‘90s, I am inclined to believe they have a point. Indeed, the number of management systems that either fail to be implemented or end up as shelf-ware soon after deployment never ceases to amaze me and many others.

It is not uncommon in the past for IT departments to spend close on 12 months deploying just the first module of a so-called “global” modular management system. And even then it often didn’t do the job they wanted it to.

The appliance-based approach to management provision makes more sense. The first advantage comes with ease of installation. Anyone who has wrestled with a complex software installation will require little persuasion as to the benefits of a system that arrives pre-installed. Appliance vendors claim that many users could justify the investment in a boxed solution just by analysing the costs of getting software solutions installed and operational. Some vendors would have us focus heavily on the fact that the system can be installed and configured in a single day for the majority of users. In a network management context, such a claim is significant and certainly the exception to the norm.

An aspect of an appliance-based approach that I find attractive is the concept of next generation “plug ‘n’ play”, more accurately titled “plug and forget” by John Earley, the CEO of Mutiny. Because appliances operate independently of other applications and hardware, there is very little risk of interference by third-party systems with their operation. Furthermore, having configured the appliance for its function there is minimal risk of unwanted configuration changes or accidents.

Analysing Return On Investment - ROI - is paramount these days and, once again, here the argument for appliances is compelling. One popular argument is that a network appliance, such as a monitor, is like adding an extra IT administrator to the team. This can be difficult for IT management to stomach, particularly if it means hacking staff numbers/colleagues. But rational examination of the issues reveals that this might not be so radical. Adding a bandwidth optimiser, for example, allows a job to be performed, which if processed manually would be almost impossible to calculate and so staggeringly boring as to ensure that it was never done properly. Equally, keeping a manual tab on security issues would be just as mundane and subject to human error. From a monitoring perspective, most IT managers would shy away from having a member of their team check all systems daily; let alone 24/7. It doesn’t even necessarily mean reducing staff, but freeing them up to carry out far more productive tasks.

This brings us to the ultimate point of justification for appliance-based solutions.

Where there is a compelling argument for an application to be operational 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, the ‘appliance’ case is made. If it needs to be done, but the doing is too laborious for words, then an appliance that is truly ‘plug and forget’ has to be well worth considering as a more reliable alternative to the manual equivalent. And a cost-effective one at that.