Given the inconvenience of trying to retro-wire an office to put in a local area network, wireless local nets should have a very bright future and NCR Corp’s Comdex special in Atlanta this year is a Micro Channel Architecture version of its WaveLAN high-speed wireless local area network, which supports TCP/IP, LAN Manager and NetWare v3 so that it can be used with the majority of network configurations. WaveLAN consists of a wireless Network Interface Card with an integrated radio transceiver and accompanying software for Micro Channel and AT-bus personal computers. It uses spread spectrum frequency technology, which NCR claims provides highly reliable data transmission and has a data rate of 2Mbps in the 915MHz band, which does not require customer site licensing in the US. Any number of machines can be part of a WaveLAN installation within an area of 50,000 square feet in a typical office setting transmission is not blocked by office partitions or normal office construction. The Micro Channel version of WaveLAN, and the NetWare v3 and LAN Manager drivers, will be available in the third quarter and costs $1,390 for the Network Interface Card including the drivers and the omnidirectional antenna. Data Encryption Standard security costs $90 and there is a directional antenna at $2,000 for camp us-wide nets for point-to-point connections over five miles. NCR has named Arrow Electronics, ATV Inc, GBC Distributors, Ingram Micro, Vitek Systems Distribution and Wyle Labs as US and in ternational distributors.
