Alexandria, Virginia-based Microdyne Corp has introduced the LAN Expander family of remote access products for dial-up access to NetWare local networks. The range was one of the lines that the company took off struggling Gateway Communications Inc of Irvine, California, last year (CI No 2,502) although Microdyne claims that the products have substantially changed since the acquisition, specifically in terms of adding Novell Inc’s Access Services software and a processor upgrade. The LAN Expander 2-Port, LX-2, is aimed at providing remote access for environments where there is no dedicated network station or communication server, says the company. The offering provides two RS-232 ports supporting up to 38.4Kbps, says Microdyne, and enables remote users to call the LX-2, log in to the network and access network data files and services over the dial-up connection. Both ports are available to local area network users as a shared-out resource. A four-port version, the LAN Expander 4-Port, LX-4, is also available. The LAN Expander-Remote Control, LX-RC, offering is said to provide dial-in users with a dedicated local network processor without devoting an entire workstation for remote access, says Microdyne. It comes with a 20MHz 80486SX processor, 8Mb of RAM and the company’s proprietary software compression. Microdyne says the LX-RC software package enables users to take control of a personal computer on the local network, and to run applications and access local disk information and network services. It also offers the dial-in/dial-out capacities of the LX-2, says the company. A version with two internal modems, the LX-RCM, is also available. The line is shipping now; no prices were given.
