Large companies need plenty of server horsepower to support thousands of internal employees and potentially millions of daily visitors over the Internet. Statistically, however, most companies average hundreds or thousands of Web hits per day, compared with the few companies handling millions of hits per hour. Second, small companies or remote offices with two dozen or fewer employees don't place a high demand on their servers. The Cahners In-Stat Group reported earlier this year that U.S. businesses support more than two million remote branch offices. Heavy-duty server clusters that make sense for headquarters don't make sense for a remote sales office.
Price goes far beyond hardware, however.
Server software optimized for small businesses can equal or exceed hardware costs. So while it may be argued that Novell and Microsoft offer more features, the server appliances include all the really necessary software bundled with essentially free hardware. Or, if you prefer, they sell the hardware with free software. Third, high power still means high complexity. Technical expertise gravitates toward high dollars and away from small companies.