Product

There are several products available on the 802.11 standard for wireless technology. Each of them serves specific purposes for a network and varies immensely in both price and the level of technology being used. There are two Physical Layers (PHY) that are currently being used on a wide scale today, the 802.11a and the 802.11b. “No matter which 802.11 PHY you deploy, the MAC (medium access control) Layer is the same. The MAC Layer manages and maintains communications between 802.11 radio NICs and access points by coordinating access to a shared radio channel. The MAC Layer is actually a program that runs on a processor; whereas, the PHY involves digital communications circuitry and an RF (radio frequency) modulator to prepare data for transmission over the medium.”(http://www.802.11.org) 802.11b PHY is currently more popular and many companies and universities have been installing this PHY for the past six years.

However, there is an increasing trend toward 802.11a which uses ‘OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiplexing)’ (http://www.802.11.org) to support higher data rates up to 54 Mbps. This technology entered the market in 2002 . http://www.geocities.com/ugabkent/milestone_1.html) “The operating frequencies of 802.11a in the U.S. fall into the national information structure (U-NII) bands: 5.15-5.25GHz, 5.25-5.35GHz and 5.75-5.825GHz.”(http://www.802.11.org) The main differences between the two PHYs are the operating frequencies and the data rates. They also differ significantly in price and 802.11a requires approximately 16 times the number of access points than 802.11b per installation

Asante Technologies, founded in 1988 is one of the leading companies in wireless networking products and hardware. “Asante achieved success through its Ethernet networking solutions, with products such as switches, hubs and adapter cards. Asante broke even after a mere 18 months and an outlay of only $1 million."(http://www.asante.com)This company is particularly interesting because of its dedication to technologies that can be used in academia and its wide product mix. The company has two product lines that deal with networking needs. “The FriendlyNET line of products provides networking solutions for small offices, homes, schools and pre-press markets.”(http://www.asante.com) Asante has a specific range of products for wireless networking for schools ranging from $677 dollars to $16,400. Most of Asante’s products operate with the 802.11b standard, which will be most suitable for developing countries at the moment. The reason for this being that most countries are not financially able to tune their frequencies to 5GHz and the range for 802.11a technology is still not as wide as that of 802.11b technology.

Asante is an excellent company providing quality service and are qualified to deal with the particular needs of academia. In addition, their wide range of products are made to meet different needs and budgets.

REFERENCES

http://www.asante.com

http://www.802.11.org

http://www.geocities.com/ugabkent/milestone_1.html