December 4, 2001
As the adoption of wireless local area networks (WLANs) continues to grow, many organizations are using wireless as an easy and affordable way to expand the reach of network connectivity to visitors, temporary locations and legacy desktop systems in order to avoid the high cost of leasing lines or laying cable. 3Com Corporation (Nasdaq: COMS) today announced the 3Com(R) 11 Mbps Wireless LAN Workgroup Bridge, the industry's first and only Wi-Fi certified workgroup bridge, offering quick and cost effective wired-to-wireless bridging for any Ethernet-enabled device to any Wi-Fi certified wireless LAN infrastructure.
"3Com is committed to providing customers with a broad range of wireless solutions to fit the unique needs of their business," said Rob Karnbach, solutions line business manager, LAN Infrastructure Division, 3Com's Business Networks Company. "For example, the Wireless Workgroup Bridge gives organizations the ability to set up temporary networks for visiting professionals or preserve the investment in existing legacy Ethernet devices by enabling wireless connectivity."
By connecting the new 3Com Wireless Workgroup Bridge to a hub, like 3Com's OfficeConnect(R) Dual Speed Hub 5, organizations can gain wireless connectivity for up to four Ethernet-enabled devices --including PCs, printers, phones, and Internet appliances. The Workgroup Bridge offers businesses a cost-savings when compared to using standard Wi-Fi certified adapters to wirelessly connect each device. By using the bridge with 3Com's NBX(R) networked telephony system, organizations can deploy a fully managed voice and data network wirelessly.
This solution is well suited to educational institutions - from K-12 to higher education. The Workgroup Bridge enables schools to connect Macintosh(R) computers and legacy PCs to the wireless network. It also works well for portable classrooms where easy set up and flexibility are critical.
Flexibility and Performance
The 3Com 11 Mbps Wireless LAN Workgroup Bridge has an internal Web server, which makes it easy to configure, monitor, and manage locally or remotely using an Internet browser or other standard-based tools.
To protect customers' information, the 3Com 11 Mbps Wireless Workgroup Bridge supports both 40-bit Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) and 128-bit shared key encryption. The wireless bridge is also transparent to Virtual Private Network protocols, using a special encapsulation protocol to avoid conflicts with other tunneling protocols. 3Com 11 Mbps Wireless LAN Workgroup Bridge offers a unique security feature, Dynamic Security Link, when used with 3Com's 11 Mbps Wireless LAN solutions. Dynamic Security Link supports "username/password" security and 128-bit encryption. Unlike WEP, this security mechanism gives each user a unique key, and changes that key with every session, making it much harder to break.
The 3Com 11 Mbps Wireless Workgroup Bridge joins 3Com's existing line of wireless LAN products including the wireless LAN PC Card with XJACK(R) antenna, the Access Point 6000 and the AirConnect(R) family. The Wireless Workgroup Bridge can also connect Ethernet devices when used in conjunction with any Wi-Fi certified access point.
Pricing and Availability
The 3Com 11 Mbps Wireless LAN Workgroup Bridge is now orderable and is expected to ship worldwide in January 2002. The product is priced at $349 (U.S. list). For more information on these and other 3Com wireless networking products, visit www.3com.com or call 1-800-NET-3COM.
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