.KEYWORD xircom
.FLYINGHEAD PRODUCT REVIEW
.TITLE Another look at Xircom’s 802.11b Wireless LAN Module
.OTHER
.SUMMARY Since this issue of PalmPower’s Enterprise Edition is devoted to wireless networking, Editor-in-Chief David Gewirtz figured it’d be valuable to take a look at one of the newer and more interesting products to reach the market: the Xircom 802.11b Wireless LAN Module. In his review, he shares his own experiences using this wireless solution and provides new insights.
.AUTHOR David Gewirtz
Since this issue of PalmPower’s Enterprise Edition is devoted to wireless networking, we figured it’d be valuable to take another look at one of the newer and more interesting products to reach the market: the Xircom 802.11b Wireless LAN Module. Ray Rischpater provided an excellent review of the device in the September issue of PalmPower’s Enterprise Edition at http://www.palmpowerenterprise.com/issues/issue200109/xircom001.html, but I wanted to share my own experiences using this wireless solution and provide new insights.
Now, we’ve already talked at some length about which wireless is which in other articles in this issue, so I won’t belabor the point. But, just in case you’re still unclear, 802.11b is the wireless standard that works within a relatively small area, say inside your building.
.H1 Examples of 802.11b
A good way to illustrate this is with an example. At ZATZ, we’ve implemented 8021.11b in the office, and I’ve hooked it up at home as well. Since the simplest example is how I’ve wired it at home, I’ll talk about that first. Take a look at Figure A.
.FIGPAIR A Here’s my 802.11b setup.
At home, I get my broadband Internet feed via a cable modem, so the cable from the cable company plugs into the back of the cable modem. The cable modem also has an Ethernet port, and I’ve run a cable from the Ethernet port of the cable modem into what’s called a Wireless Access Point, which is really my 802.11b hub.
My Wireless Access Point is from Linksys (at http://www.linksys.com), and it does double-duty as a 4-port hub. As a result, the Ethernet connection from the cable modem goes into the Wireless Access Point, and I can also wire in four other additional computers. At home, all I’ve got going into this device is my desktop PC.
It’s the wireless part of the Wireless Access Point that makes things interesting. As you can see, I can talk to my laptop, my Palm m505, and a server box, all wirelessly. I implemented the wireless network because I wanted to stick the server box in another room, and I didn’t want to run Ethernet cables through my living room.
Our implementation at the office is similar, although the whole network is far more complex. Our T-1 feed goes into a main 16-port hub, which then feeds a series of 8-port hubs throughout the office. One of those hubs connects into the Wireless Access Point, providing a solid Ethernet feed into the Wireless Access Point. We use this Wireless Access Point to connect computers that would otherwise be a pain to link by physical cable. It’s a slower connection that our 100BaseT connection, but it’s easier to set up.
.H1 The Xircom Wireless LAN Module
The Xircom Wireless LAN Module (at http://www.xircom.com/cda/page/0,1298,0-0-1_1-1730,00.html) is a "sled" that holds a Palm m500 or m505, as shown in Figure B.
.FIGPAIR B The Wireless LAN Module is actually bigger than the Palm handheld.
Interestingly, we discovered that the Xircom Wireless LAN Module was actually bigger than the handheld device itself.
Setup was pretty straightforward. There’s an installer, and you need to configure the device to work on your network. You need to set your IP (Internet Protocol) address, network ID, Network Type, Power Management, and Encryption settings.
Let’s take a moment and talk about encryption as it pertains to 802.11b. This technology is wireless, which means it’s broadcasting your data all over the building (often with a bit of spillover outside). The data signal it broadcasts is something that a nefarious individual could tap, thereby getting access to your corporate information. To overcome this obviously severe limitation, the 802.11b standard allows for either 40-bit or 128-bit encryption, making your information secure against all but the most diligent hackers.
We could not reliably get encryption working between the Linksys Wireless Access Point and the Xircom module. To be fair, we’ve found the Linksys access points to be rather fussy about encryption with other 802.11b devices, so it’d be unfair to conclude that the Xircom module is at fault. That said, we’ve also found that encryption between brands of 802.11b devices in general appears to be problematic at best. It’s one of the nice theoretical strengths of 802.11b that turns out to be a pain in real life.
Whenever you’re talking about a wireless, handheld device, there are two other considerations: battery life and connectivity range. Although Xircom claims that the device can support two hours of continuous connection, we found it topped out at about an hour and fifteen minutes of continuous transmission. This also depleted the Palm handheld’s battery level pretty severely.
By contrast, when we did lots of little lookups and accesses, both the Palm handheld’s battery and that in the Xircom module seemed to last almost forever. It seems that if you’re going to be using this technology, it’s far more satisfying in small doses than one gluttonous feast of access.
Now we come to the key determinant of 802.11b prowess: connectivity range. Since you’re walking around with these devices, the important question is how far can you go before the signal goes poof. It should be noted that this issue is often greatly influenced by the placement of the Wireless Access Point and the antenna used. The Linksys device we used contains two rabbit-ear style antennas. It’s possible to replace them with more robust antennas, but we just used what’s stock off the shelf.
With other 802.11b devices in the office, we’ve found connectivity to be pretty good. Generally, no matter where you walk within our building, you can access the network. We saw no degradation of this with the Xircom module, and I was even able to access the network from the comfort of my car, while parked outside in the parking lot.
Strangely, connectivity quality has always been less effective at home. I live in an apartment that’s completely open on one side and bounded by earth on the other. In effect, the back of my apartment is below ground level. As a result, the signal effects of the 802.11b devices tend to be wacky. In one room, access is excellent. Meanwhile in another room closer to the access point, access can be downright terrible. As such, I didn’t originally have particularly high hopes for the Xircom device.
Interestingly, I found the Xircom device to work moderately well, compared to the other 802.11b devices I use. Although the signal did tend to be somewhat intermittent, I could generally use the device in almost all places throughout the house.
.H1 Recommendation
I like the Xircom device, but I can’t give it an unreserved recommendation. It’s a little bigger and bulkier than I’d like, and at $299. it’s substantially more expensive than the wireless PC card I have in my laptop. In fact, Xircom sells a wireless PC card for $138.99, less than half the price of their wireless product for Palm OS devices.
Here’s the bottom line: it’s a little too big and a little too expensive, but it works well and is the only solution right now. If you really need to use 802.11b, the Xircom Wireless LAN Module will do the job, even if it takes a little bite out of your wallet.
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources
For more information on the Xircom Wireless LAN Module, visit http://www.xircom.com/cda/page/0,1298,0-0-1_1-1730,00.html.
For more information on Linksys, visit http://www.linksys.com.
For Ray Rischpater’s review of the Xircom Wireless LAN Module in the September 2001 issue of PalmPower’s Enterprise Edition at http://www.palmpowerenterprise.com/issues/issue200109/xircom001.html.
For more information on Palm handhelds, visit http://www.palm.com.
.H1 Easy, flexible article reprints
ZATZ now offers a quick, easy, flexible and inexpensive way to use article reprints in your marketing and promotion efforts. You can now get article reprints for a one-time fee of only $200. For details, visit http://mediakit.zatz.com/reprints.
.END_SIDEBAR
.BIO
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