A Core Competence Product Evaluation

The Bottom Line

The DataFire-U’s installation was actually pretty simple, but residential users may be somewhat put off by the requirement to download software and drivers from the web and the lack of GUI diagnostic and monitoring utilities. Although the DataFire can be used for Internet access, this product line is not really geared towards home use. The multi-BRI DataFire/4 is a candidate for small enterprise or service provider environments where greater connectivity is required. The DataFire S1 is targeted for interconnecting NetWare or NT-based LANs via ISDN, either paired or in combination with the DataFire/4. In this higher-end market, performance may be a concern. The DataFire product line claims to support multilink (bonding B channels together for higher bandwidth), but we encountered interoperability problems when we attempted to bond calls from the DataFire-U to an Ascend MAX access server.

The DataFire-U currently lists for $595. If you already have an external NT-1, you can save $100 by purchasing the DataFire-S/T instead. If you’re looking for NetWare support, you’ll be shelling out $795 for one of the S1 models. The DataFire/4 tops off the product line at $2995. If you’ve shopped around, you probably realize the DataFire-U is expensive when compared to other Windows 95 single-BRI cards, but the DataFire S1 and DataFire/4 appear to be pretty much in a league of their own.

-- Reviewed by Lisa Phifer, May 8, 1997



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