Wireless LANs

Wireless LAN Applications - Representative Case Studies

1. Wireless LAN application in Indiana State Legislature using AIRLAN Ethernet cards and access points. Wireless LANS can be justified sometimes on the basis of construction and wiring costs in historical buildings. Click here to get the story. 
2. Case Study: Pro Golf Drives Down Completely Wireless Fairway (AirLAN Wireless Products)
   The decision to go wireless was an easy one: A totally wireless network would take a crew of eight about a day to set up, while a wired network would take two or three days. Original story in PC Week (1994).
3. Case Study: Extending an Ethernet Network 2 - Ontario Blue Cross
   Campus-XL3000 Ethernet Repeater System continues to give Ontario Blue Cross significant cost savings (CDN$1,000/month in fiber rental alone), and the flexible and reliable solution they need.
4. Case Study: Building-to-Building LAN Connectivity
   The total cost of installing a Micropass® 8100 Wireless Ethernet System was just under US$30,000. The resulting net payback period was 11.9 months. In less than a year the customer gained back over $2,200 a month in equivalent phone line cost savings.
5. Case Study: Networking Schools for Distance Learning
   A school district needed to tie satellite schools with the administrative center's computer system, and to reduce or eliminate the need to copy and distribute instructional videos throughout the district. Due to the cost and bandwidth constraints of the local telephone company's T1 services, a more cost-effective, higher-capacity method to link the district's computer networks was needed.
6. Case Study: New Media Technology Delivers Last Mile Solutions for University
   The University  finds Campus T1/E1 solution based on wireless LAN  bridge can be amortized in three years (compared to 10-year payoff period for fiber).
7. Number of universities using 802.11b wireless ANs has mushroomed during 2001 and 2002 - CMU (Carnegie Mellon University), a premier computer science school in Pittsburgh, PA, USA was among the first. Cornell, Duke, University of Toronto have joined in this untethering of the students.
8. Case Study: Ethernet Card Permits T1 Speed over Copper
   PairGain®'s exclusive CopperOptics™ technology uses adaptive signal processing to allow receivers to compensate for the predictable distortion inherent in copper transmissions. The low bit-error rate allows users to run high-bandwidth applications, such as videoconferencing, over copper wire.
9. Case Study: US Fish and Wildlife Service Extends it Lines for T1 Service
   HDSL technology from PairGain® creates a mathematical model of copper wire, allowing the transmission device to adroitly and precisely compensate for copper-based distortion. This adjustment happens continuously, so the transmission signal will not degrade as wire or environmental conditions change.
10. Go to Cisco-Aironet site for wireless Internet connection using wireless LAN bridges. for wireless Internet connection using wireless LAN bridges.

Wireless LAN and Shop Floor Machines
While wireless LANs have been used in offices and also on the manufacturing shop floor, the idea of controlling machinery through wireless LANs is an interesting new concept. Through wireless LAN interface built into these machines, a supervisor can control these devices as if they were right there on the machine.  This is what Opto22, a manufacturer of measurement tools for industrial and manufacturing tools, has done.

As an example, Futura Industries, an Aluminum extruder, is using a device, called Snap-IT Wireless LAN, to monitor the flow rate of  etching chemicals. Cabling is hard to employ in those shops and atmosphere is very corrosive.