December 2, 1996 10:00 AM ET

NetFrame eases site construction
By Stephanie LaPolla

NetFrame Systems Inc. will try to take the burden out of setting up an enterprise intranet with its newest integrated server software package. The NF9000is, which is based on NetFrame's ClusterSystem 9000 200MHz Pentium Pro server, will enable administrators to build a corporate World Wide Web site in about an hour, according to company officials in Milpitas, Calif. NetFrame integrates WebFlow Corp.'s Same-Page Web-based groupware and Wallop Software Inc.'s Build-IT to move content from smaller intranet servers and Unix servers to the 9000is and enable application developers to collaborate. Also bundled is NetFrame's own Ready, Intranet, Go software for Windows NT, which acts as a central point for administrating the site setup. Users need only plug it in and answer IP address and server name questions, and the Web site then builds itself. "It can take weeks to get everything functioning properly," said Aeron Sheriland, production manager at Wave Technologies International Inc., in Dallas. "[NetFrame] has gone ahead and softened the blow." NetFrame's approach differs from Pentium Pro Internet servers from Compaq Computer Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co., which offer Netscape Communications Corp. or Microsoft Corp. options in their level of integration, officials said. "We really wanted to take [the intranet server] to the next level," said Randy Meyer, director of solutions marketing. Due this week and priced from $33,790, the NF9000is is based on a triple-peer PCI bus to alleviate any performance bottlenecks. The original ClusterSystem 9000 shipped in October. The base system includes 64M bytes of memory, a 4.2G-byte drive, a 10/100M-bps Ethernet interface, a floppy drive and a CD-ROM drive. The system is scalable to four-way symmetric multiprocessing, 16 PCI cards, 2G bytes of memory and 900G bytes of online storage. Copyright(c) 1996 Ziff-Davis Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Ziff-Davis Publishing Company is prohibited. PC Week and the PC Week logo are trademarks of Ziff-Davis Publishing Company. PC Week Online and the PC Week Online logo are trademarks of Ziff-Davis Publishing Company. Send mail to PC Week