AFTER the hype over information appliances that would allow consumers to connect to the Web, are appliance servers now destined to be the next big thing?

Appliance servers are PC servers optimized for a single, specific task and configured for easy installation, leading its promoters to dub them as "plug and forget." While they are not necessarily cheaper than the usual PC server, task-specific hardware and software configuration is supposed to make appliance servers cost-effective by cutting down on training and management requirements.

"I wouldn't say that there will be no more general purpose servers, but we will see more application-specific servers in the market. This, however, is not for everybody. Appliance servers address specialized requirements," said Pang Hee Joon, director for Marketing and Product Support at Compaq Computer Philippines Inc. "It may not be a lot cheaper than general purpose servers because it has a number of application-specific integrated software."

In pushing the concept of appliance servers, Compaq has introduced the new TaskSmart server family, with the TaskSmart C-series as the initial offering. The TaskSmart C-series is designed for web/Internet caching, reportedly offering web performance enhancement of up to 10 times that of standard integrated caching solutions in proxy servers. Simply put, caching refers to storing most frequently requested web data locally so that they no longer need to go through the Internet or intranet. The end-user would benefit from faster Internet response time when accessing information.

While the TaskSmart server family has yet to be launched in the Philippines, appliance servers are expected to find a niche in the Philippines.

"Right now, we are talking about TaskSmart on a per customer basis, but next year we will be introducing it to the Philippine market," said Veronica Escalante, Compaq Philippines' product marketing manager for Industry Standard Servers. According to her, the TaskSmart C-series would be ideal for Internet service providers and companies with intranets.

Pang, however, said that it is still too early to tell how appliance servers would fare in the Philippines and elsewhere.

"It's still a new market. It's just like the Internet five years ago. Nobody knew what it would be like," he said. "I think an appliance server would take off in the Philippines if small and medium businesses would no longer have to worry about configuring the software. That should be one area where specific appliance servers could help."

"Before, PC servers were just used for file and print, but now they are also being viewed for mission-critical applications. What I've seen our customers do is deploy the ProLiant 8000 and 8500's high-availability features for enterprise resource planning and other back-end applications," Escalante said.

Asked whether PC servers are already competing with Compaq's high Alpha-based servers acquired from Digital Equipment Corp., Pang replied that the company's strategy remains providing a full range of products for different customer needs.