TechWatch: Prepaid VoIP; Security; Keyboards

PREPAID VOIP
A standalone Voice over IP phone and companion pay-as-you-call service is the latest twist on VoIP deployment from longtime subsystem vendor Soyo Group. Along with the phones, resellers can earn 10 percent quarterly residual income for one year by selling end users Soyo's prepaid service plan and refill minutes (residuals start after sales of 20 phones). The SOYO VoIP phone itself features two 10/100M Ethernet jacks, memory for up to 100 speed-dial entries and free peer-to-peer calling.

SOYO VOIP PHONE, www.soyo.com Price: $140, 3 cents per minute

HACK BUSTER
Need to protect your customers' Web infrastructures from hacker attacks? Then maybe it's time to add some net-edge appliances to your solutions stack. FireLine, the new secure applications gateway from Teros, could be the ticket. Aimed at the SMB market, FireLine is a hardened appliance that protects against buffer-overflow attacks, cross-site scripting exploits, Web-site defacement and other nefarious activities. And all from a box the company claims can be installed and configured in less than 60 minutes. Available via Teros' channel program.

FIRELINE SECURITY APPLIANCE, www.teros.com Price: $12,500 and up

COMFORT ZONE
if your customers are sick and tired of being sick and tired, then maybe you should fit them out with Microsoft's Wireless Optical Desktop Comfort Edition. The ergonomically correct keyboard and mouse combo is the flagship offering of a new product line Redmond is pitching to VARs. Microsoft says its in-house team of ergonomists applied their expertise to come up with a flat keyboard design with a six-degree "comfort tilt" to reduce the risk of carpal tunnel syndrome, along with a tilt-wheel mouse that glides side-to-side for greater control. The product line, which also includes a wired mouse and keyboard and a Bluetooth-enabled mouse, could be just the ticket for business users.

WIRELESS 'COMFORT EDITION,' www.microsoft.com Price: $85