Proxim Symphony

While an all-wireless network is viable for a home or small office, most larger networks will have wired portions as well, for which the Ethernet Bridge is just the ticket. This is a small box, and installation is a simple matter of plugging it into the power and then into your switch or hub via the supplied crossover cable. It's a 10BaseT device, so you'll have to be running at this level or have a dual-speed switch. Drivers are supplied, but these are for the client systems equipped with Symphony wireless network cards. You can either use these drivers when first installing the cards in the clients, or upgrade an existing wireless-only network using the upgrade utility supplied. Either way, once the drivers and utilities are installed, any protocols used on the wired network can be used with the wireless card. The Bridge seamlessly translates them across. For example, a router used for a shared Internet connection can be used by the wireless clients as well - simply set the IP addresses as you would with a network card.

Overall, Symphony worked well. It's easy to install and cheaper than any of the other wireless LAN products currently available in the UK. Although it doesn't conform to the 802.11 standard, it's questionable whether the latter will bring the cross manufacturer interoperability that everyone has been hoping for. The Ethernet bridge is a bit pricey, but it negates the requirement of a dedicated PC to gateway between the wireless and wired world - a real problem with ZoomAir. It's great for home networking, and ideal alongside the Bridge to make hot-desking with a notebook that little bit easier.

Author: James Morris