Although the European Telecommunications Standards Institute should have introduced a European-level standard for the 2Mbps RLAN radio wave technology (used in wireless local area networks) by the end of November, its adoption in France will still not mean that users can make use of the technology. In a problem peculiar to France, suppliers of wireless local networks have to wait until the Prime Minister’s Telecommunications Advisory committee approves bandwidth allocation, which is currently being used by the French armed forces. Our problem is not regulatory, but one of the availability of the airwaves, said a source close to the dossier at the regulatory agency Direction de la Reglementation Generale, DRG, who preferred anonymity. Up until now, says Gerard Daugey, NCR’s network marketing manager, NCR has sold its WaveLAN product in France by getting approval through the Direction de la Reglementation for experimentation with a wireless local network. NCR’s Daugey says At DRG, they are keen for our product and they are defending the dossier. As of now, said the Direction source, the authority has got a few approvals for experimental wireless local network use, but further approvals are being blocked.

By Marsha Johnston

In any case, says the Direction source, the adoption of the Eurpean Telecommunications Standard will not necessarily precede a Comite decision. Although the ETSI technical document for the RLAN standard is well advanced, he said, it will probably be early 1994 before each country, including France, has adopted it into their official documents. In the meantime, the WaveLAN demonstration at last month’s Telecommunications 93 show in Paris, was a magnet for attendees. The wireless demo is going very well, said Denis Foucher, product manager in the marketing division. It’s the novelty of it, that’s true, but there is evidently a real problem with cabling. Daugey said The offering holds a lot of interest for clients from all different areas – distribution, hospitals, government ministries. But these users do not want it to replace their existing local area networks. At 100mW, WaveLAN operates only to 450 to 550 feet, so you must have a gateway between WaveLANs that is based on a cabled local area network. It won’t be for another five to six years, he said, that the HyperLAN wireless standard will augment the power and bandwidth – 20Mbps – enough to enable greater distances and transmission of voice and data. Daugey says NCR has sold 22,000 WaveLAN units in the US in the last 18 months, giving it 33% of the market. And that’s where there are lots of cabled local area networks already. There are far fewer of them in Europe and Japan. He said NCR would anticipate selling approximately 2,000 units in France in the first year, once the Comite Co-ordination de Telecommunication has given the green light.