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Xeon Servers: They're a Gas, Gas, Gas

Have you spent too much on your low-performance, high-maintenance server? Maybe it's time to upgrade to a Xeon- or Pentium III-based powerhouse. With faster cache and more of it, plus built-in redundancy and reliability features, the seven workgroup servers we tested are no flash in the pan.

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Operating Options: NetWare

"I could not wait until the day we unplugged those [Windows] NT servers from our WAN," remembers John Cressman, network communications manager for Wireless One, a Jackson, Mississippi­based provider of cable TV and Internet access over microwave frequencies. Cressman and Bill Hart, LAN/WAN manager, switched the company's network, which serves 23 offices in seven states, to Novell NetWare 5.

Cressman says the move was economical, partly because the company went from using eight NT servers to only three NetWare servers. But NetWare's performance and scalability were also very important. "The NT servers were support nightmares--at best, flaky; at worst, unusable," Hart says. Hart lauds NetWare's built-in remote administration capabilities. In contrast, he says, "[On NT], anything you want to do administration-wise has to be done on the server, unless you buy additional tools."

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