InformationWeek

June 7, 1999

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Wireless Networking

continued...page 3 of 4

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Network Computing Lucent's Lightning-Speed Wireless Card

In addition to testing throughput, I tested all cards with all the access points. I found that the three 802.11 cards were able to function with any of the access points. While it's impossible to say that all 802.11 products would behave as nicely, it is an encouraging improvement over early 802.11 devices that would work only with their own access points or maybe a few others.

I also tested for range. While I don't have a large office building to roam in, I did take the portables to various places around my home office, both in the office, up the hill to my house, and behind the house to my deck. The distance to the deck was about 200 feet, and even the RadioLAN device, rated at 120 feet in an office environment, had no trouble at that distance.

As a worker in a home office, I can testify that it's a liberating experience to plug a wireless PC Card into a portable and be able to access the network from anywhere on the grounds. It's also nice to be able to roam around the house, taking inventory on a portable, without worrying about wires, or to be working in one place, put the portable on standby, move to another location, and resume working, with complete network access.

For administrators who want to get going now and who don't think they'll need more than 2 Mbps, the 802.11 products are stable, interoperable, and easy to set up. The buying decision can be made based on pricing and management functions. For users looking forward to the 802.11 fast-rate products, the RadioLAN offering is typical of what they should be like in a couple of ways--they're a lot faster and have a more limited range (120 feet rather than 300+ in an office-building environment). The vendors I spoke with said their fast-rate products will have the same unobtrusive antennas as existing 802.11 products rather than the bulkier antennas used on the RadioLAN products.

Administrators who want to implement wireless now, rather than after the end of the summer when the fast-rate specification has been ratified, may want to look at Lucent's products.

It is shipping FCC-approved 11-Mbps products that Lucent says will be flash-upgradable to the 802.11 fast-rate spec once the standard is set. The access point will also accommodate both standard and fast-rate cards, and be less expensive than the other 802.11 access points. The Bay Networks access point can also be upgraded by adding a new fast-rate card, which should also support the slower data rates, while the RadioLAN access point will be more difficult to upgrade because it will have to be taken apart to replace the radio hardware.

Given the initial problems with interoperability that occurred when the 802.11 specification was first finished, administrators may also wish to take a long look at the RadioLAN products. Though they are not 802.11 and won't be, they have the definite advantage of having been shipping for a year or more.

Aironet
I tested the PC 4500 wireless LAN adapter and AP4500-E Ethernet access point. Setup and installation couldn't be easier. In fact, with a single access point, installation is completely plug-and-play--unpack the access point, attach the antenna, plug it into power and a 10BaseT port, and it's up and running. The access point also supports thin and thick Ethernet (10Base2 and 10Base5).

Getting the PC Cards installed is a matter of plugging them in, inserting the diskette when prompted, and then rebooting. The PC Cards come with a snap-on, small antenna that extends about an inch beyond the side of the portable. Optional extended-range antennas are available. To go beyond the basics, the PC Card can be configured using the network control panel.

To configure the access point, you must use a serial terminal connection, at least the first time. After that, you can assign an IP address, and, from that point forward, administer the access point with a browser. However, configuration is simple and straightforward, and using the serial terminal is not difficult--the advantages to the browser-based configuration utility are the graphical user interface and the ability to manage configurations remotely from anywhere on the network.