NCR Corp is the first of the majors to move into the embryonic field of wireless local area networks with the launch of WaveLAN, and sees it being used for short-term installations and by users that are constantly changing the topography of their local net. It runs at 2Mbps against 10Mbps for Ethernet, and uses spread spectrum technology, where data is dispersed across a range of radio frequencies. It is compatible with Novell Inc’s NetWare 2.1X network operating systems. It supports the IEEE 802.3 Ethernet protocol. NCR is working on a 10Mbps version and plans a NetBIOS bridge for WaveLAN by the end of the year. Drivers to support NetWare 386 and OS/2 LAN Manager are also in the works, as is a Micro Channel adaptor board. It consists of an AT bus board attached to an omnidirectional 3 antenna box it has a reach of 800 feet, but a planned directional antenna will increase the range to five miles. The board and antenna with NetWare drivers costs $1,400 – that’s for each machine on the network. It will be available in November in the US, after Federal Communications Commission approval has been received.
