TechWatch: Windows CE Scanner; Mail Server; Multifunction Printer

It's not business as usual with these new products. The following offerings promise to give customers an alternative way of running their operations. If you know of any hot products that warrant mention, please drop a line to [email protected].

Symbolic Entry

Looking to bring ruggedized computers and scanners into customers that in the past couldn't justify the funds to modernize their proprietary systems? Then, check out Symbol Technologies' new MC-1000, the company's first entry-level system based on the Windows CE 4.2 platform. The maker of industrial computers and scanners for field applications adds modern amenities to applications that are often legacy DOS-based programs or that run off of proprietary real-time operating systems--think retail, manufacturing, warehouse and logistics applications. The MC-1000 incorporates a 1D laser scanner, comes with an SD card slot and USB 1.1 support, and sports a 240-x-240 resolution, 2-inch monochrome display. The system is also a good fit for bringing your customers into the Windows .Net world. The devices are intended for batch downloads of data, though they are upgradable to support 802.11b and Bluetooth wireless cards. The MC-1000 has 32 MB of RAM and ROM.

Symbol MC-1000, www.symbol.com Price: $695

a new Mail route

If your customers are tired of Microsoft Exchange, or simply can't afford it but want to use the Outlook client, try another option: KerioMailServer 6.1. The server offers some specific benefits over Exchange, such as an embedded version of McAfee security software and antispam tools, and notably runs on Linux and Mac OS X servers in addition to Windows. According to Jim Hurd, CEO of solution provider Hurd IT, in a shootout, KerioMailServer outperformed Exchange, Lotus Notes/Domino, Novell GroupWise and some other e-mail/groupware products on several fronts, including its support for built-in archiving. It scales particularly well on Linux, Hurd notes, and can cost anywhere from 40 percent to 60 percent less than Exchange. KerioMailServer supports Active Directory as well as LDAP.

KerioMailServer 6.1, www.kerio.com Price: $499 for 20 users

one-stop printer shop

Here's a high-end multifunction printer that bridges traditional color printing, scanning and faxing with corporate data and Web-based systems. Canon's C3170 MFP comes with embedded software that lets users view PDFs, and Internet and intranet Web pages from the system's control panel and print them directly from the unit. The C3170 has such security features as single sign-on authentication via Microsoft's Active Directory, and is intended for midsize organizations where documents are primarily printed in black and white. It prints 31 monochrome ppm, 7 ppm in color with scanning speeds of 44 images per minute (ipm) at 300 dpi, and 28 ipm at 600 dpi, respectively. The system is also equipped with document-enhancement, integration and workflow-management tools.

Canon C3170, www.canon.com Price: $8,900