New High-Speed WLAN Uses Old Infrastructure

2008-Mar-08 | A technical solution from Siemens is making it possible to implement the new high-speed WLAN system easily and at low cost. Many companies have been hesitant to introduce the new standard due to the cost and complexity of system extensions — although the new WLAN is more reliable, offers a data transfer rate many times higher than the previous one, and has a much larger range. The system thus makes possible the transmission of high-resolution video, as well as voice-over-WLAN applications. The HiPath-Wireless 802.11n from Siemens, which is to be presented at the CeBIT computer fair in Hanover, is the only new WLAN system available today that requires no external power source and can operate with the existing network infrastructure.
WLAN routers that operate according to today’s common standards normally require a power supply that can be provided via a network cable (power-over-Ethernet). The new WLAN 802.11n version uses six different transmitters and receivers in parallel for its radio transmissions, additional hardware that requires even more electricity than normal. But developers at Siemens Enterprise Communications have succeeded in transmitting all the energy needed, via the network cable.
Independent testers from the Farpoint Group, a mobile communications consulting company, have confirmed the effectiveness of the Siemens solution. They found that the new WLAN devices from Siemens achieved data transfer rates of 143 megabits per second in practice, while being supplied with electricity by an Ethernet cable 100 meters in length. The previous WLAN transmission norm was 25 MBit/s — and experts had stated that the power supply problem could not be solved without additional investment of resources.
Another benefit offered by the HiPath-Wireless 802.11n is its special network architecture, whose intelligent distribution of data volume allows the unit to operate without additional wireless controllers or the need for network expansion. Other solutions require expensive upgrades to a network’s wired backbone. Installation of the Siemens solution at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta — one of the biggest sports and entertainment complexes in the U.S. — required only a software update and some reconfiguring to be ready, which took 30 minutes.