royce@scor_az.resp-sci.arizona.edu (Royce Robbins) (09/28/90)
Net folks,
I have a connectivity problem. Last year our
Telecommunications department rewired the main campus, and a few
of the buildings that were "close" in a politico-economic sense.
They have provided fiber links to most buildings and copper to a
few others. They did not connect, nor do they intend to connect
certain "temporary" (been there since 1920) buildings, including
one to which I need to be connected.
It is not econmically feasible (T1? Sure, $750/month +
$15000 for equipment. Yeah, right) to lay either copper or fiber
to this site. I can stand on my roof and see the other building
less than 1/2 mile away, I can literally hear them when they yell
'Connect me! Connect me!'. They are currently connected via a
9600baud leased line ($35+/month) that has no possibility for
upgrade.
My problem is: How do I connect this site at reasonable
speed (AppleTalk speed minimum) without laying a physical
connection? Any ideas? I know I am not alone in having to do
this. A good, inexpensive, reliable method would be met with
great enthusiasm by a lot of peole, I'm sure. Options I've heard
of or looked at: 2-way lasers, microwave relays, (mucho bucks)
packet radio (mucho slow). Anything else?
(The following is a plea for support AND
an unpaid promotional announcement)
One of products I found was a wireless LAN made by a group
in Canada;
Telesystems SLW Inc.
85 Scardale Road, Suite 201
Don Mills, Ontario CANADA M3B 2R2
(416) 441-9966
(416) 441-9785 (fax)
They have several product lines, ranging from a wireless
RS232 300-19200baud link to the ARLAN 600 line which is their
"Megabit Wireless LAN". They all use a spread-spectrum radio
transmission technology to achieve high security and high levels
of interference resistance. Their products are low power
devices, FCC certified under Part 15 in the US and DOC type
accepted in Canada for licence-free operation.
The specs say: Frequency: 915MHz (2.5 GHz also available);
Speed: Variable, 1 Mbps nominal
Transmit Power: up to 1 watt
Typical range: Indoor/Office 300' diameter
Open Factory 1200' diameter
Building - Building
(line of sight) 1 mile
Directional antennae are available
Price: about $2000, but not yet fixed
Two products are available (but won't be shipping until "4th quarter"):
ARLAN 610 is a router that "ties into an Ethernet backbone LAN"
and according to the Tech I talked to would provide
plug'n play compatibility for Internet routing.
ARLAN 650 is a 8-bit PC/AT compatible card that provides a fully
self-contained LAN communications card. You just have
an antenna sticking out the back instead of a wire.
The 650 sounds like a great product. Think of the bucks
you'ld save not having to lay cable (and re-lay it when users
move!) It's major drawback is that the only driver available is
for Novell NetWare. Utterly useless for a majority of
applications.
Personally I think these sound like fantastic problem
solvers, especially for situations like mine and similiar
situations I know to exist on this campus. Not to mention home
use! I told them having a packet driver written to FTP
Software's PC/TCP specs would open up a tremendous market. The
tech I spoke to said he'ld look into it. Any other suggestions
anyone might have would also be welcomed.
PLEA TIME: CONTACT THIS COMPANY!
If anybody else agrees with me please CONTACT THIS COMPANY! Let
them know there is a market out there (I KNOW I'm not alone) AND
that most of the world wants something other than Novell (like
TCP/IP). End of plea.
Oh yeah, if anyone has any OTHER ideas, let me know. Thanks!
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Royce Robbins INTERNET: royce@resp-sci.arizona.edu
Div Resp Sciences FAX: (602) 626-4884
UofArizona PHONE: (602) 626-5022
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