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! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Royce Robbins INTERNET: royce@resp-sci.arizona.edu Div Resp Sciences FAX: (602) 626-4884 UofArizona PHONE: (602) 626-5022 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=