Ungermann-Bass Inc has become the first hub vendor to sell wireless technology alongside its product range. The Tandem Computers Inc subsidiary will resell Motorola Inc’s Altair Plus wireless Ethernet local area network module alongside its own Access/One hub. Unfortunately, wrangles over radio frequency allocations prevent its sale in the UK at present. The Altair Plus consists of a single centrally-located Control Module and one or more User Modules, each of which can connect up to eight Ethernet devices, be they personal computers or printers. The Control Module routes data between User Modules, as well as to and from a server or wired local area network. A single controller will handle 50 Ethernet devices, but the company is not specific about the area – anywhere between 5,000 and 50,000 square feet, it says, depending on the building’s construction. Motorola is touting the product both for ease of installation and for use in listed buildings where cable ducting is prohibited. Despite the fact that Ungermann will be selling Altair alongside Access/One, the degree of integration between the two is minimal and the wireless controller is essentially a stand-alone system that links to the hub over an Ethernet link. Ungermann Bass’s Netdirector system can manage the wireless controller, but then again, since Altair uses the SNMP protocols, so can most other management stations. The problem with marketing in the UK is that the radio frequency connection between the Altair controller and user modules runs at 18GHz, and that’s already allocated to British Telecommunications Plc. So far Motorola’s best efforts at getting the frequency opened up have come to naught and the short-term prospects do not look good, according to the product’s worldwide market manager Mil Ovan. Currently, Altair is available in the US, Germany and Spain, to be joined shortly, according to Ovan, by a further three or four European countries. The UK will not be among them, and the company has not ruled out manufacturing a version of the Altair system modified to run at the 17.5GHz frequency on offer from the UK Department of Trade & Industry. The Altair Plus User Modules cost $1,100 for 10Base-T units and $1,200 for 10Base-2/5 units, and Altair Plus Control Modules are shipping at $4,000.
