3Com ramps up speed on Edgeserver Pro add-on

3Com has announced an add-on card for its Total Control remote access concentrator, which turns the device into a dual-Pentium NT server.

The Edgeserver Pro card will enable corporates to provide faster remote access performance, says 3Com, and will eventually enable ISPs to offer new facilities such as multipoint videoconferencing.

The card plugs directly into the Total Control system's packet bus, ensuring fast I/O performance, 3Com claims.

The Edgeserver was originally launched about a year ago. It contained a mere 486-based NT server. Now, 3Com is offering a dual Pentium 200MHz with 64Mb RAM (expandable to 1GB) and two mirrored 2GB hard drives. It can be used to run NT Remote Access Server (RAS) software, as well as security or firewall applications.

But Mike Valiant, product marketing manager for 3Com, said the more powerful server-on-a-card will allow more demanding applications to be run within the remote access concentrator, such as an Intranet server or a Citrix WinFrame server. This, according to Valiant, will mean faster performance for users who are dialling in.

Additionally, he said: "If you run NT RAS, it will look like just another NT Server to the network, and it can be managed like an NT Server."