A device that is dedicated to a specific function in contrast to a general-purpose computer. The hardware comes pre-installed with its operating system and application. Many consider the router to be the first network appliance.
A "software appliance" is the software alone, which must be installed in the computer. Following is a list of common hardware appliances. See
virtual appliance.
caching appliance
digital appliance
email appliance
firewall appliance
Internet appliance
Internet server appliance
network appliance
server appliance