[WEB4LIB] wireless within a building

[TMGB]

  Sorry for the long reply but I've tried to cover enough to reduce any
questions although I don't mind responding to any.

  We are initiating a project to begin in January that uses the
Cabletron RoamAbout wireless technology.  This project was not to
address a cabling need but to allow the use of laptops checked out for
two hours at a time from our reserves area so people could search the
catalog or WEB from anywhere in the library.  Cabletron does have an
adapter card for use in a desktop PC for the PCMCIA wireless network
card.  So far our testing has had great results.  I positioned an Access
Point (the switch unit connected to an ethernet port on the wall) on the
first floor on top of a book shelf.  We were able to stay connected on
the third floor but not to the furthest corners of that floor.  We have
terrazzo floors although if I setup an Access Point in my office and
walk around the corner I lose the connection through concrete block
walls.  So, in a pretty much open area it works great even with all of
our metal book shelves.  I will be putting at least one Access Point on
each floor to guarantee coverage to all corners of the building.  If you
go out of range and drop the connection you just walk back into range
and resume your work.

  The documentation says we can connect to any IEEE 802.11 LAN but
another department came over to test Lucid's wireless cards and we could
not get it to connect to the network and the Lucid card would not work
at all in the Access Point.  Although, the software for both look almost
exactly alike implying that the underlying technology is even from
another company.  According to consultant at the other department, our
price on the Cabletron equipment is about half of what the Lucid
equipment costs.  At the same time one Lucid Access Point can
accommodate two network cards but if you purchased two Cabletron Access
Points I think you would have mare area coverage.  The accessories are
even the same, in specific an antenna that can be connected to the
PCMCIA card.  The Access Point can be programmed via ethernet connection
or RS-232 port with telnet.  I even was able to find a telnet program
for my WinCE PDA from Cambridge Computer Corp. ( http://www.cam.com
)that would connect to the menu on the Access Point, a couple of other
telnet programs required an actual host address rather than a direct
connection.  The programming includes setting the tcp ip address of the
base unit and of the PCMCIA ethernet card that plugs into the base unit
(same card that goes in PC).

Okay guess that's enough for one shot.

Thomas



Thomas Edelblute wrote:
> 
> We have a branch that recently spent a fortune digging up their concrete
> floors to put in new cable.  They still have cabling needs that needs to
> be installed.  Thus,  there is some preliminary discussion of using some
> kind of wireless technology within the building.
> 
> Are there any libraries out there using wireless technologies to address
> their cabling needs within a building.  Radio?  Infrared?  E.T.'s
> telephone?
> 
> --
> Thomas Edelblute
> Anaheim Public Library

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Thomas McMillan Grant Bennett      Appalachian State University
Computer Consultant II             University Library
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