By Issie Rabinovitch
Tech products seem to be appearing on the market faster than an Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor can
manipulate data. Some are more for entertainment than for work, but many have features you might find useful.
CAmagazine asked technology writer Issie Rabinovitch to test new products and write regular
assessments for this column. Issie has been working with CAs in the technology field for years and, in
choosing the products, he has your needs in mind. Issie rates each on a scale of one to three stars.
 good product strong
product exceptional product
Peer pressure
Business networks used to be peer-to-peer or server-based. With the growing use of devices that
attach directly to the network, the dividing line between network categories is blurred. Peer-to-peer
networks connect directly to a server and are popular in business and at home as they are inexpensive,
flexible and easy to set up. Networks with one or more dedicated servers better address the computing needs
of a business but are more expensive and require expertise to set up.
Using printers and disks that connect directly to a switch are an inexpensive way to add some benefitsof a
server-based network to a peer-to-peer network. As a result, their availability to network users does not
depend on one particular computer as they are never powered down. In a typical peer-to-peer network, if a
computer freezes or is turned off, every-thing connected to it and shared on the network becomes unavailable.
If you need a file or want to send a print job to the network’s printer, you will be inconvenienced.
To solve these problems, there are the Iomega StorCenter Network Hard Drive 250 GB — an external hard disk
with a network port connecting directly to a network — and the Linksys Network Storage Link, a device
thatalso connects directly to a network, allowing for a conventional external disk connection to shared files
and disk space on the network.
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Linksys Network Storage Link
