Start-ups push wireless LAN envelope

Two new companies, Mobilian and Vivato, this week will unveil products that hint at the future of enterprise wireless LANs.

With Mobilian TrueRadio chips, a wireless client could use a Bluetooth radio to work with assorted peripherals, such as a keyboard and mouse. At the same time, the client could use an 802.11b radio to connect with a wireless LAN access point.

And if that was a Vivato access point, relying on what the company calls its "phased array antenna," an indoor client could be up to 1.2 miles away and still have throughput of at least 5M to 7M bit/sec, which is typical for 802.11b wireless LANs today at ranges of 108 to 328 feet.

Mobilian, which was started by former Intel and Qualcomm executives, now is shipping samples of its chipset, which isolates the 802.11b and Bluetooth signals from each other to minimize interference in the 2.4-GHz radio band they share. Mobilian executives say they hope network adapter makers will offer cards based on the chipset that cost less than $100 as soon as April.

A demonstration, using a Mobilian test board that was almost as big as the laptop to which it was connected, featured Mobilian software utilities written to show how 802.11b and Bluetooth nets were performing. The wireless LAN link that was running at about 3.7M bit/sec plummeted to less than 1M bit/sec when the Bluetooth card on the laptop activated. Then, when Mobilian's technology was switched on, the wireless LAN link surged to just more than 4M bit/sec, with the Bluetooth card still active completing a file transfer.

"The goal is to let a laptop or handheld automatically detect what wireless options exist, let the user select one and then automatically connect through it," says Wade Gillham, marketing director for Mobilian.

Separately, Vivato proposes to replace traditional wireless LAN access points with its wireless switches.

Other vendors, such as Bluesocket and Vernier, also are adding switched features to wireless LANs. But they're doing so in controllers that sit on the wired net behind access points.

Vivato's switch is a thin, flat panel that mounts on a wall. It uses a phased array antenna - actually a collection of small antennas - to steer narrow radio beams to specific client devices. Most wireless LAN access points today distribute radio as a light bulb does light, blanketing an area with radio waves.

As an Ethernet switch can deliver up to a theoretical 10M bit/sec of throughput to each desktop computer or server on a wired LAN, the Vivato switch can do likewise for wireless LAN users.

The Vivato switch's narrow beams make it possible for companies using it to increase the range of the wireless connection, says Phil Belanger, director of marketing for the San Francisco company. Vivato says its device, when used outdoors, will be able to connect to a standard 802.11b client up to 4.3 miles away. Belanger says the Vivato switch will work with any standard 802.11b client adapter card.

The Vivato products will support a range of network security standards, such as 802.1X and IP Security. The company plans to release the product next year, but is keeping tight-lipped about exactly when and about how much it will cost.