Box Makers Putting Their Stamp On Looks; Seek To Stand Out In Crowd; A bank vaultlike server; a space creature-ish PC; and Disney meets Frog.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)

Byline: KEN SPENCER BROWN

Adam McGinty, director of hardware at IronPort Systems Inc., practically coos when detailing his firm's newest line of corporate servers.

Housed in a minimalist aluminum casing, the server's front shows only the IronPort logo and a single blue LED light that glows to show the machine's status. A front latch, hidden in the design, opens to reveal an info panel and options for fixing problems.

McGinty says it's all meant to evoke the feeling of high-end audio gear, a steel bridge or even a bank vault. More important, it helps the firm stand out among a sea of look-alike servers.

It may seem a case of design overkill. Most people never see a server, much less display it as a piece of art. But experts say IronPort's approach is part of a larger trend in the tech hardware design away from raw mechanics to a more refined look.

Faced with slowing growth and the notion their products are becoming commodities, more tech product companies are making design a bigger part of their strategy.

"When all the other factors become the same, design becomes important as a differentiator," said Dave Parsons, Xerox Corp.'s director of industrial design and human interface. "Consumers become more demanding of it."