Weasel, like the sun implementation, allows remote reboot of wedged machines. This is key, particularly when running on an Intel platform <cough>. If there are any PC serial console implementations that allow one to do this, I'd like to hear about it, since I'm not aware of such. Buying a serial console server *plus* a power cycler fills my heart with hatred.

Given the fact that the guts of a server leave enough room in a 1U case for an additional computer, it's only a matter of time before someone puts together 1U Intel-based systems that include a serial console server and power cycler running on the separate control computer. And given that we now have devices like the Gumstix on the market http://www.gumstix.com/ it's only a matter of time before this capability gets built into even smaller boxen. We really do need to have a chat with some of the folks doing embedded systems work because if they knew that there was a need for these types of server control systems, it wouldn't take them very long to produce usable products. All the pieces needed are available off the shelf today. The only problem remaining is the integration and this is something that embedded systems people do very well. --Michael Dillon