Scandinavia has led the design world for many years in the realms of architecture, furniture, motoring and other consumer goods. Characterised by simplicity, minimalism, functionality and (sometimes) affordability, homes around the world are stacked with the stuff. When it comes to home servers and network attached storage, Sweden’s Excito hope to continue that reputation with the B3, a Linux-based appliance which not only stores and serves your data, but triples up as an 802.11n Wi-Fi Router and Access Point. Packed with applications, the company hope it’s a one-stop shop for all your digital needs – “The Heart In Your Digital Life” according to the box. With an increasing number of Linux and Windows based home servers hitting the market this year, it’s got a fight on its hands to win your affections. Let’s take a look at how Sweden interprets the home server.
Features and Specs
The B3 is a single bay home server, available in 500GB (€279.20), 1TB (€327.20) and 2TB (€399.20) options. A 40GB Intel SSD option sits at the top of the storage pile at (€407.20), which will offer faster transfer speeds, but is likely to be too limited for those with large collections of digital media. Those prices are for the standard model which ships without integrated Wi-Fi – expect to add between €70 –€120 for the wireless models, with the smallest model picking up the largest mark-up, for some reason.
Our review model is the mid-range 1TB Wi-Fi model.
Under the hood, the B3 is powered by a Marvell 88F6281 1.2 GHz ARM processor supported by 512MB RAM, which makes the B3 up to five times fast than Excito’s previous model, the Bubba|TWO, according to the company. That configuration still provides low power consumption, running as low as 5W at idle for the SSD model, 8W for the standard hard drive model, which is extremely frugal – a key consideration for an “always-on” device. The device is also fanless, cooled passively by its metal chassis.
Alongside the integrated 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, network connectivity is supported by twin Gigabit connections (LAN/WAN) and you’ll find eSATA and twin USB 2.0 connections for expansion.
The small (11.5 x 4.5 x 18.5 cm) chassis packs in a swathe of features, presented by Excito’s own user interface built on top of Debian 6.0 Squeeze. The benefit of utilising an open-source operating system is that it’s well supported with applications that can be built into the device. As a result, the B3 offers a great range of features, including:
- File Downloader (HTTP, FTP, TORRENT)
- iTunes music streaming (Firefly/DAAP/Soundbridge)
- UPnP media streaming (Mediatomb)
- Squeezebox support (Squeezebox Server)
- File server (HTTP, Samba, FTP, SCP, AFP)
- Web server (Apache 2, PHP5, MySql)
- Webmail client
- Email Server (Dovecot, Postfix)
- Fetchmail Server (Fetchmail)
- Printer Server (Cups)
- Firewall (Iptables)
- SSH Connection
- Router
- Wireless access point (802.11 abgn, 2 x MIMO, dual band, fully open source)
- DNS server
- DHCP server
- RAID 1 support with external eSATA disk(s)
- Integrated backup solution
- Web photo album
- Easyfind File Manager
An embarrassment of riches maybe, but the question remains how well Excito have implemented these varying features into the box, and importantly, how easy are they to use for the mainstream user who really doesn’t want to get into scripting to get things up and running? We’ll find out….
What’s in the Box?
The B3 ships in a monochromatic package that takes a certain number of design cues from a certain company from Cupertino – it’s not designed by Apple in California, but clearly Excito are proud of their Swedish heritage (not enough to go for blue and yellow packaging though). Open up the box and you’ll find:
- Excito B3 home server
- Getting Started guide
- Two antenna
- Power cable and Adaptor
- Ethernet Cable
