Product Reviews

Organising your life with a PC is supposed to make things simpler, but what if you have more than one computer? If your household or small business has several PCs, you might find yourself wishing you had expensive servers and professional IT staff.

That's where the Net-Box H-85 comes in. It's a home server that's designed to be easy for non-IT specialists to configure and use. Setting it up couldn't be simpler. You just turn it on and connect your PC via Ethernet (using one of the network cables supplied) or Wi-Fi wireless networking. Once that's done, you type the Net-Box's IP address (a unique number code supplied by Axentra) into your main PC's Web browser program. Your browser will then open a control screen that provides all the options you need to configure the H-85.

The Net-Box acts as a router

ADVERTISEMENT

and wireless access point, so you can use it to share an ADSL or cable Net connection, though you must connect it to a dedicated ADSL or cable modem. It can be used to share resources, such as files, between computers running different operating systems - great if you want to network Windows PCs and Macs, for instance. We tried this out, networking a Mac and a Windows XP system, and it worked fine, though one of the backup options in the Web interface didn't work from the Mac.

The Net-Box can also act as an FTP file server, automatically back up files and synchronise lists of contacts and calendars. In fact, a thorough feature list would take up this whole article.

As well as offering services to your local network, the Net-Box can act as an e-mail and Web server, accessible from the outside Internet. You should, however, approach this with caution. Your ISP may not let you run a server without upgrading to a business plan. We were also a bit surprised to find out that the Net-Box only offers WEP wireless networking encryption, and not the safer WPA.

As a home appliance, the H-85 isn't too convincing. It whirrs loudly, though Axentra claims this problem will be fixed in final production models. The Net-Box also does far more than most families will ever need. But if you run a home business or small office and don't have the luxury of IT staff, you may find it a godsend.