BICC Communications Inc has launched a wireless Token Ring network, using infra-red light as the communications medium. The BICC Plc subsidiary, based in Auburn, Massachusetts, says the system is cheaper, faster and easier to set up than wireless networks based on radio frequencies. It also has the advantage of not needing a radio licence, a requirement that has stymied NCR Corp’s attempts to sell its radio-based network in Europe. However infra-red transmissions do require an unbroken line of sight. BICC has got round the problem with base stations containing seven foot high poles. A media access unit, or up to six personal computers can access each base station and the data is then transmitted above the height of most people or objects. If a sight-line is broken, BICC says the data is transmitted round the ring in the opposite direction, preventing the network from going down. The network runs at the same speed as ordinary Token Ring nets, at 4Mbps or 16Mbps and BICC says it is the first wireless system to conform to international standards, in this case the IEEE 802.5. The personal computers therefore need no additional equipment other than a Token Ring board. The system is called InfraLan and the first one was installed in Travelers Insurance, Hartford, Connecticut last month. BICC will be shipping systems to Europe in the spring and an Ethernet version of InfraLan is due to be launched in the second quarter of 1991.
