From Info World

Infrared wireless LANs offer switched bandwidth

By Stephen Lawson
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 12:53 PM PT, Mar 3, 1999

A wireless LAN start-up announced on Monday a set of products that can give users a switched connection into an Ethernet LAN.

Clarinet's EthIRLAN lets users of notebooks and Windows CE portables hook up to the LAN through the existing infrared (IR) ports in those devices, with a dedicated 4Mbps link.

Most other wireless LAN products, including those that use the IEEE 802.11 standard, offer only shared bandwidth. Clarinet's offering -- though limited to a transmission distance of one meter -- lets wireless users enjoy the switched connections that are increasingly becoming the norm as switches replace hubs in enterprises.

The patent-pending EthIRLAN solution also offers higher bandwidth than current 802.11 products, which provide 1Mbps to 2Mbps.

Clarinet users connect to the LAN through a small infrared receiver, the EthIR Beam, which plugs into an RJ-45 port on the EthIR Switch. "Dedicated IR" versions of the switches offer 8 or 16 ports for IR connections, and "Pass-Through" versions offer 8 or 16 conventional 10/100Base-T ports in addition to the special IR ports. All the switches include a 10/100Base-T uplink.

In addition to Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT notebooks and Windows CE devices, the Clarinet solution supports Apple PowerBooks.

EthIR Switches and EthIR Beams are shipping now. An 8-port system including both is priced at $1,700; a 16-port system is priced at $3,200.

Clarinet Systems Inc., in Fremont, Calif., can be reached at www.clarinetsys.com.

Stephen Lawson is an InfoWorld senior writer.