WLAN Wares Make the (54M-bps) Connection

LAS VEGAS– Veteran wireless LAN companies Proxim Corp. and Agere Systems Inc. on Tuesday introduced new products that support wireless connections of up to 54M bps via the 802.11a WLAN protocol.

At the NetWorld+Interop trade show here, Proxim announced that the company has started shipping its first 802.11a PCI card. The card connects to 802.11a access points at up to 54M bps but can also offer speeds of up to 100M bps in the proprietary 2X mode, said company officials in Sunnyvale, Calif.

Proxim started shipping 802.11a Access Points and CardBus Cards in late 2001.

The Harmony 802.11a PCI Card is available now with a list price of $279.

Meanwhile, Lucent Technologies Inc. spinoff Agere Systems announced the availability of an 802.11a radio and antenna kit for its Orinoco AP-2000 dual-radio wireless network access point, which lets IT managers add 802.11a support to their installed base of 802.11b (or Wi-Fi) WLANs.

The AP-2000 is a two-slot wireless access point designed to help IT managers migrate from one WLAN protocol to the next without having to convert the whole network at once. It will support the upcoming 802.11g standard when it is ready, officials said.

The new 802.11a kit consists of a 5GHz radio card and an antenna that mounts directly onto an AP-2000 access point. (802.11a operates in the 5GHz range, while 802.11b and 802.11g operate in the 2.4GHz range.)

Agere also announced a price reduction to $895 from $1,295 for the AP-2000. The new AP-2000 5GHz kit, including the antenna, costs $249.