Even though attendance figures were down, and many exhibitors stayed away, there were companies showcasing products and services that might very well pull the sector out of its doldrums, especially products based on emerging technologies such as 10 Gigabytes per second Ethernet, 802.11a wireless, and voice over IP.

Announcement Highlights
Finisar Corporation launched its Surveyor Wireless Protocol Analyzer, which can monitor, measure, analyze and troubleshoot 802.11b wireless networks.

Intel Corporation introduced a new line of wireless LAN products, Gigabit Ethernet and 10 Gigabit Ethernet products. Among the products introduced were a dual-band wireless LAN access point and an internally developed dual band wireless LAN chipset.

The company also introduced the Intel 82597EX 10 Gigabit Ethernet controller, a single-chip controller running at 10 Gigabits per second. In addition, Intel announced that it has begun sampling the industry's first 10 Gigabit Ethernet adapter that fits in a standard PCI-X slot.

Network Associates demonstrated the latest version of its Sniffer products, the Sniffer Portable Wireless PDA that currently runs on the Compaq iPAQ. It is a network management solution that promises to pinpoint and resolve common security and performance breakdowns on wireless LANs.

Symbol Technologies introduced its Mobius 5224 Access Point and CompactFlash embedded LAN/WAN module. The Mobius 5224 Access Point is designed for high-bandwidth wireless applications, based on the 802.11a specification. Designed for OEM application, the CompactFalsh provides voice and data communications over either 802.11b, GSM or GPRS wireless networks.

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