July 25th, 2007
Dear Zonbu, think server
Zonbu is billing itself as a cheap client, a PC replacement, the true $100 laptop.
But what if you called it a server?
Its $12.95/month service charge is designed to pay for online updates, including security updates and backup services. If you have a home network, two kids each with a PC, maybe a spouse, wouldn’t the Zonbu make more sense in front of your router, rather than behind?
Think about it. Security and back-up services, for your whole home network, at just $13/month. Put all your important files on the Zonbu hard disk and they’ll be backed up, online, automatically.
Now, instead of spending $50 per client per year on a security set-up, you do that separately for a single monthly charge which comes to under $160/year. You only buy client security for laptops that live outside a lot.
Or consider this. Consider a network of sensors and RFID chips, in your lawn, on your pets, on your jewelry, your car keys and wallet. Consider home security tied to the same box, cameras monitoring the perimeter, lights going on-and-off irregularly under a randomized program on the Zonbu.
Or think about your mom, getting up in years, wearing a heart monitor disguised as a bracelet, a blood sugar monitor disguised as an earring. If she has memory problems she can take full advantage of your RFID, and you can know that she’s safe, that she’s healthy.
These are new markets, vital markets I have advocated for years, under the title The World of Always-On. Zonbu can deliver those markets, if it is seen as a server rather than a client.
So how about it? You may not need another client in your home, but I’ll bet you’d like a $99 server that does what no PC ever has.
Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist for 30 years, a tech freelancer since 1983. You can follow Dana on Twitter. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
Subscribe to Linux and Open Source via Email alerts or RSS.
| 07/26/07
