Compaq Computer Corp will today announce details of its wireless LAN range, including its first wireless base station product and upgraded PC cards. The line-up is designated the WL Series, and consists of the WL 400 Hardware Access Point, WL100 and WL200 network cards and the WL300 Compaq AP Manager software, which is bundled with the WL400.
The access point is a wall-mounted base station with a 100 meter range and the ability to ‘daisy-chain’ devices to provide office ‘roaming’. Users will be able to carry their work between meeting rooms and offices within range via a laptop fitted with a WL100 card, or have fixed wireless access from a desktop PC fitted with a WL200 card. The WL400 comes with network management software designed to allow systems administrators to configure the network in such a way to allow seamless roaming. Each access point will cost around $999, while the cards will cost $199 and $219 respectively. All products will available in December.
The new cards see Compaq playing catch-up to the likes of Apple Corp and Dell Computer Corp, upgrading its wireless card range from the 2Mbps line revealed in June, to the more LAN-standard 11Mbps. The WL100 slots into laptop Type II card ports, while the WL200 goes into standard PCI slots in desktops. The system uses to IEEE 802.11b High Rate standard protocol and is backwards compatible with the 2Mbps cards. Also included is 128-bit encryption and MAC addressing.
