Networking comes in different flavors, including wireless
Networking comes in different flavors, including wireless
JAKARTA (JP): So you now have a 24-hour Internet connection
into your house via a cable modem. You access the Internet for
work, but your kids also demand their share of the newly found
freedom to chat online. Does it sound like the usual conflict of
interest? How do you solve it?
Networking all the PCs and notebooks in your house can be
useful in many respects. First, transferring files will no longer
require the use of floppy diskettes. Second, virus protection can
be optimized to all the computers in your home office, in the
living room and in your children's study area. Third, one cable
modem can serve a number of PCs if they are already connected to
a local area network (LAN). Fourth, if the Internet cable service
is down, you can still share the same phone line-based modem and
the same ISP account until the service is up again.
The easiest and most straightforward way to connect your PCs
is to buy one Ethernet adapter card for each of them. A popular
and reasonably priced network interface card (NIC) is ReadyLINK
Express 10/100, a product of Singapore-based Compex. It costs
less than Rp 150,000 apiece. If you have more than two PCs to
connect, you can buy a hub.
A low-end Compex hub would cost around Rp 350,000, and it can
connect up to four PCs. Of course, there are more expensive hubs
that can connect up to 24 PCs. Many of these higher-priced PCs
are also stackable, which means you can put one on top of the
other to connect a larger number of PCs. The problem with the
Ethernet LAN is that you have to run new wires to connect all the
PCs, and these cables can be messy.
3Com is another very popular networking products manufacturer.
One of the latest offerings from 3Com for SOHO is the phone line-
based network. This may be a preferred solution for homes in
which every room already has a phone jack, as no additional
wiring will be necessary. There are other products offered by
other manufacturers, as well. However, as we seldom have homes
with phone lines in every room, this solution is not very popular
here.
Just last month, 3Com launched a wireless network solution for
homes. Called AirConnect, the 802.11b radio transmission-based
LAN uses on an access point that can be hung from the ceiling or
mounted on the wall. The access point then connects to the wired
LAN via an Ethernet cable. The PCs communicate at the maximum
speed of 11 Mbps with the access point using AirConnect PC Card
for notebooks and AirConnect PCI Card for desktop computers that
serve both as the NICS and transmitters/receivers. An interesting
feature of the AirConnect access point is that it draws power for
transmitting and receiving signals through the Ethernet cable.
Intel Corporation also has its own wireless home networking
solution, which is called AnyPoint. A new version of AnyPoint
uses transceivers that connect to the PCs via the USB port, and
therefore it offers the easiest installation. However, since it
uses the USB connection, the speed is also very low. Intel says
that the speed is 1.6 Mbps, but in reality it may be lower.
Who else provide wireless networking solutions? Of course two
of the biggest network equipment makers, Cisco Systems and Lucent
Technologies, have joined the growing group of companies offering
the 802.11-based products. Cisco has the Aironet, while Lucent
has Orinoco. Both of these are aimed at large networks spanning
multiple buildings rather than homes. For example, both allow
notebook users to access a LAN at a distance of up to 10 miles
away from the access point.
If you have an Apple Powerbook, the available wireless network
solution is AirPort. The good news is that AirPort works with
these vendors' wireless network solutions.
Wireless technologies are advancing at a breathtaking pace,
particularly because of the convenience that it gives us. The
problem is, what happens to us -- and the rest of earth's living
beings -- as we increasingly have all these high power radio
frequencies bouncing around us? (Zatni Arbi)