Proxim ORiNOCO AP-600b/g and 11a/b/g ComboCard Gold review

It's taken long enough, but the IEEE 802.11g wireless standard was finally ratified in June this year, with Intersil's OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiplexing) winning its three-year battle over Texas Instrument's PBCC (packet binary convolution coding) modulation. We can, at last, look forward to standards-based wireless products promising 54Mb/sec in the 2.4GHz frequency range and backwards compatibility with 802.11b products.

The AP-600 access point delivers support for 802.11b and 802.11g operations. Proxim's ComboCard PC Card takes this a stage further, as it adds support for the 802.11a standard to provide mobile users with every connection permutation they might encounter.

The AP-600 is distinctively designed and installation starts by dismantling its shell to gain access to the power and LAN ports. This seems tedious, but replacing the panels and securing the unit with a Kensington lock stops the power and network cables from being removed.

Next up is Proxim's ScanTool, which runs a discovery routine and displays any access points it finds ready to receive an IP address. All further configuration is via the slick browser interface. This loads a wizard to get you started and offers the chance to change the default SSID and activate WEP encryption. The unit also has a serial port hidden behind the shell, which is required to access some settings. However, only options such as the roaming 802.11f IAPP (inter access point protocol) and Proxim's SpectraLink VoIP support have to be accessed using this - features most small businesses are less likely to use.

Good security is provided, as you can implement 64- and 128-bit WEP encryption and use a RADIUS server plus an AP table to restrict access to specific MAC addresses. 802.1x port authentication is also supported and Proxim even offers a proprietary WEP enhancement using Agere's 152-bit version, although this only functions with 802.11a operations. A wide range of filters may also be used, as you can block specific protocols and create a MAC address filter, which could be used to stop wireless clients communicating with a particular system on the LAN.

The ComboCard is well built with a solidly fixed aerial assembly. Using a Pentium III/800 laptop running Windows XP Professional, we found installation only takes a few minutes. A client utility is used to view your connection status, speed and signal strength, run diagnostics and store different connection profiles. Proxim plans on supporting WPA (Wi-Fi protected access), but at the time of writing it had yet to provide drivers for the ComboCard.

Sustained transfer rates were tested by copying a 585MB VideoCD file from a Windows Server 2003 system to the laptop, where we saw the Proxim partnership deliver average speeds of 16.5Mb/sec. We copied a 93MB collection of Office documents to the laptop, which took 55 seconds for a lower average of 13.5Mb/sec, while the open-source Iometer utility returned a raw throughput of 20Mb/sec.

As with 802.11a, this new wireless standard doesn't deliver anywhere near the quoted performance, although it does represent a five-fold increase over 802.11b. The Proxim AP solution offers a range of security measures along with good remote management, and the ComboCard is a fine choice for mobile users.

Author: Dave Mitchell