3Com's Wireless World

By
iApplianceWeb
(06/27/01, 10:30:48 AM EDT)

11 Mbps seems to be the magic transmission speed, so 3Com has developed two new devices to help connect the world wirelessly at this speed: the 11 Mbps Wireless Building-to-Building Bridge and the 11 Mbps Wireless LAN Access Point 6000.

Building-to-Building
The 11 Mbps Wireless Building-to-Building Bridge is an easy-to-use tool for connecting hard-to-wire sites, such as multiple buildings within a campus setting, or temporary networks to LANs at a reasonable price. With this device, 3Com is targeting variety of organizational environments, including education -- university and K-12 campuses--, healthcare, airports, and construction areas.

With point-to-point and point-to-multipoint connectivity options, the Wireless Bridge allows users to transfer information between two buildings or multiple buildings across a campus. Multiple antenna options allow the Building-to-Building Bridge to transmit distances of up to 1300 meters via omni-directional antennas and 4100 meters (or 2.6 miles) using directional antennas. The Bridge is highly configurable and easy-to-manage.

Whether through land or air, information transmission needs to be secure, so the 3Com 11 Mbps Wireless Building-to-Building Bridge supports both 40-bit and 128-bit Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP). The Bridge is also transparent to Virtual Private Network protocols, using a special encapsulation protocol to avoid conflicts with other tunneling protocols.

The 3Com 11 Mbps Wireless Building-to Building Bridge is expected to be available in July in the U.S. and Canada. The product is priced at $1095, not including antennas and cables.

The 11 Mbps Wireless LAN Access Point 6000
The 3Com 11 Mbps Wireless LAN Access Point 6000 is a Wi-Fi device that, when deployed with the 3Com 11 Mbps Wireless LAN PC Card with XJACK antenna, offers uniquely simple deployment, management, and security capabilities for businesses.

The Access Point combines several key features, including:

• 60-Second Setup -- By connecting the access point to a power source and the switch or hub of a wired LAN, the access point will automatically configure itself to be recognized by and communicate with wireless clients without any manual configuration.
  
• Dynamic Security Link with Username/Password Authentication -- Unlike standard 40-bit Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) keys that are the same for all users and must be changed manually, the Access Point 6000 protects the network from the intrusion of unauthorized users by automatically generating a unique 128-bit encryption key for each user on the network at the beginning of each networking session. In addition, an optional username/password feature is included, giving smaller organizations authentication capabilities similar to those available in the RADIUS-based systems used by large enterprises.
  
• Auto Network Connect -- Users can roam across access points and multiple IP networks without having to manually request a new IP address or know the wireless network name (ESSID).
  
• Clear Channel Select -- This feature automatically selects the best radio channel available upon start up.
  
• Power-over-Ethernet -- The Access Point 6000 eliminates the need to run separate AC power lines to access points, saving time and significant cost.

Together, these features enable customers without technical expertise to gain the productivity and total cost of ownership benefits of a wireless network.

Available now, the 3Com 11 Mbps Wireless LAN PC Card with XJACK antenna is priced at $219, and the 3Com 11 Mbps Wireless LAN Access Point 6000 is priced at $599.