Product Reviews

Getting a single Mac to access the Internet is a doddle, as Apple proved with the iMac, but providing an entire network of machines with a Web connection is another matter. There are a number of products available which allow a group of Macs to share one or more modems, but only one device has attempted to make the process as simple as the iMac, and that's the Inty.

Not that it's a revolutionary product. Several companies already offer products like Inty, but only its developer, Intelligent Network Technology (INT), has attempted to provide Mac network administrators with a total Internet access solution, offering not only the connectivity hardware but an ISP to go with it. The only problem for network managers is that simplicity comes at a price.

On the hardware side, Inty is a budget-price PC which operates as a server. The hardware consists of a 75MHz IDT/Centaur WinChip Pentium-clone processor, 32Mb of memory and a 6Gb hard disk.

Running on the machine is the FreeBSD variety of Unix, plus a series of applications and utilities which allow it to host an intranet and provide the basis for a company's Web page. It, protects the network from unauthorised entry, and allows other networked machines to share its Internet connection, giving everyone access to the Web and email.

Installation and setup is simple - so much so, in fact, that it's included in the price. You plug Inty into your network and hook up a modem or ISDN terminal adaptor (bought separately). The server needs to be told which machines will be connected to it, and the machines need their network settings adjusted to do so. The Inty manual, which contains Mac instructions (unusual for a networking device), takes you through the

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process clearly and concisely. Programming a VCR is more difficult.

Inty provides each user with a unique email address. It can also be set to police Web access, ensuring employees can only access the Internet during the times you, as network administrator, want them to.

Inty monitors and logs all users' Internet traffic, enabling administrators to see whether users are going out onto the Internet too frequently. It also contains standard, secure firewall functionality to block attempts to get onto the network from the Internet. These, and all of Inty's other settings, can be made through any machine's Web browser by running a handful of easy-to-use applets.

One factor stops it from being ideal. Inty purports to provide Internet on demand, but every user has to perform a log-in every time they start up their Mac. Forget to do so and your browser will keep telling you the page you want doesn't exist, although email still works. Most network systems require log-ins - you can't automate it as you might a connection to an AppleShare server. And because a log-in is done through Telnet, there's no simple Chooser-style panel to help you perform that task quickly.

More important, though, is Inty's viability. Inty is just a cheap PC with a freeware OS - you can offer the same functionality with an old Power Mac and LinuxPPC. True, Inty is very much easier to get up and running than Linux, but if you're the sort of network administrator who needs the power of a dedicated Internet access server, you're smart enough to do it with Linux. Or Mac OS X Server.

If you only have a few handfuls of users to connect, you don't need Inty - a modem-sharing box is all you need. You don't require a firewall, as that's only relevant to permanent connections to the Internet, and the box will handle your email sharing. Apple's own Personal Web Sharing software can manage your intranet.

The other issue with Inty is the way it ties you into a single ISP, UUNet. Its fees are no more expensive than most business-oriented ISPs, but since you only rent Inty, you can't switch to another ISP without handing over your server. The minimum rental period is 12 months.

There are cheaper ways of connecting multiple Macs to the Internet, but as a no-hassle solution, Inty makes a lot of sense.