[Beowulf] non-proprietary IPMI card?

[Mark Hahn]

> (Quick unabashed commercial plug - we offer a dedicated appliance which uses 
> IPMI and/or APC power distribution units to monitor and do power control on 
> nodes, web interface)

that always strikes me as bizarre - IPMI is actually a very nice interface,
which I'd much prefer to use directly, rather than mess with an "appliance".
what value-add does the appliance give?