A number of years ago some enterprising folk up in Canada realized that it would be great for small businesses if they could gain the benefits of a server-based computer network without all the cost and hassle that normally came with it: expensive hardware, expensive software, difficult configuration, and reliance on expensive IT employees or providers.
They came up with a wonderful solution, formed a company called Net Integration Technologies and called their solution "Nitix." This product, as near to plug-and-play as a server could be, was an easily installed (30 minute setup) appliance with highly sophisticated "autonomics" which allowed it to virtually maintain and administer itself. It provided a mail server, a file server, anti-spam, anti-virus, a firewall, automatic backups, and the ability to integrate the various workstartions a small business might have--be they Windows, Mac or Linux--into a safe and efficient system. In addition, Nitix offered the opportunity to include a pre-configured version of Lotus Domino for serving Lotus Notes clients on the company's workstations--again, in a package requiring virtually no adminstrative skill and at a very reasonable price.
After many years of successfully selling this product, Net Integration Technologies was purchased in January 2008 by IBM. IBM renamed the product "Lotus Foundations" the Domino add-on was renamed "Lotus Foundations Start " and IBM delivered them on a sharp new hardware platform called the "Lotus Foundations Appliance Server."
