Aironet's PC4500 Direct Sequence Wireless PC-Card Adapter was one of the best-designed cards we tested. Aironet is the only DS vendor to offer a removable antenna. It fit securely, but was easy to remove. While most vendors' cards include an LED that flashes if the card is not associated with an AP (and shines steadily if it is), Aironet's cards signal association through a series of on/off flashes, a design we found confusing.

The PC4500 supports all elements of the 802.11 standard, including power management and wired equivalent privacy. The cards are fully configurable with Aironet's WinDGS configuration and management software that runs under Windows95 or NT. Although Aironet was not among the minority of vendors that were able to associate with MaxTech's LANescape XWL411 Access Point, the PC4500 connected to all of the other APs, and its average performance across them was above average. At 1.2 Mbps, its performance during our single-station interoperability tests was about average, while at 1.18 Mbps its aggregate performance in our multistation was well above average. The PC4500's performance in our range tests was also excellent, averaging 1.27 Mbps, second only to Lucent's AP, which included high-gain antennae in its base configuration.

InTalk ST-500A PCMCIA Radio Card
Even though InTalk is a newcomer to the wireless LAN market, its PC Cards are fine performers. We were impressed by InTalk's PC Card drivers, which include a tabbed dialog box accessible from the card's properties menu (where all card parameters are configured). Although the driver lets you activate power management, the feature wasn't enabled in the card we tested. It should be by the time you read this. An icon appears in the Windows system tray, indicating whether the card is functioning properly. During testing, we double-clicked on the icon, bringing up a window that shows the ESSID, as well as transmit and receive statistics.

InTalk produced middle-of-the-pack numbers in our range tests, with an average throughput of 1.1 Mbps. However, at 1.28 Mbps, its cards generated the best average performance across APs in our interoperability tests. Our initial multistation tests showed dramatic differences between far- and near-station performance, but these problems were corrected after we installed new firmware. The ST-500A clocked in well above average at 1.19 Mbps. Unfortunately, to apply the upgrades, we had to go through a tedious process of installing each card in its AP and uploading code from our PC. (InTalk is working on utilities that will automate this process). At $349, the device's price was the lowest of any product we tested. InTalk's LEDs were easy to see and the card's overall design was decent. However, the antenna is not removable and it extends a considerable distance outside your notebook's PC Card slot.

InTalk offers unique support for a mode of operation it terms Instawave--a hybrid of IEEE 802.11 ad hoc and infrastructure modes. Wireless devices communicate with each other on a peer-to-peer basis without funneling data through the AP, yet continue to access wired LAN segments through the AP. This proprietary feature effectively reduces the overall load on APs.

Samsung Electro-Mechanics SWL-1000 PC Card
Samsung's SWL-1000 PC Card is a close cousin of the InTalk ST-500A PCMCIA Radio Card. Both use the AMD MAC chipset and Harris Semiconductor's PRISM radio chipset. In addition, InTalk is heavily involved in this product's driver development. The only obvious difference between the two products is the antenna, which is substantially more compact on the MagicWave. The smaller antenna was noticeable in our range testing, as InTalk's card was able to maintain better performance in our long-range, walled office-environment test.

InTalk's and Samsung's PC card performances were similar. However, the SWL-1000, which had older versions of the AMD firmware, exhibited unusual performance in our multistation performance tests. Unlike most of the other products tested, the remote stations actually achieved better performance than the local stations, as noted in our multistation performance tests. The aggregate performance was decent.

Samsung also offers an AP, but it is simply a relabeled version of InTalk's AP. The products we tested were sent to us directly from Korea, and we experienced difficulties getting support from Samsung. This could be a significant concern to organizations that are new to wireless LAN technology.

Nortel Networks BayStack 660 Wireless LAN PC Card
Bay Networks, now a subsidiary of Nortel Networks, entered the wireless LAN business via its 1998 acquisition of NetWave Technologies, an early innovator in the wireless LAN market. In fact, it was the first vendor to offer a one-piece wireless PC Card. Like Aironet, Nortel offers both FH and DS product lines in identical form-factors. The 660 PC Card is based on a Harris radio chipset and an AMD MAC chipset. The drivers for the 660 and its cousin, the 650, are identical.

In the lab, the BayStack 660's performance was decent for our single-station tests, and it turned in the best aggregate performance in our multistation performance tests. However, the 660 did not offer a range comparable to other products we tested. While most other products showed diminished performance in one of the locations we used for range testing, the 660 could not communicate at all. We attribute this deficiency to two factors. First, at 50 milliwatts, this product's radio output power is somewhat limited. In addition, the AP uses the 660 card for its wireless interface, and the built-in antenna is significantly smaller than other products.

Site-survey software is included with the 660, helping installers establish the proper placement of APs and perform diagnostics on cards. The pricing for the 660 is somewhat higher than most other products, and the included feature set was somewhat limited. For example, the units we tested did not include support for power savings or wired equivalent privacy. Nortel expects to add support for these features by April, at which point this product will provide significant competition to the leaders.

Cabletron Systems RoamAbout PC Card
The Cabletron RoamAbout PC card is an OEM version of the Lucent WaveLAN/IEEE PC Card, so it came as no surprise that they shared most characteristics. The units, however, did ship with different firmware and drivers. Interestingly, while we experienced some interoperability problems between the Lucent cards and the Nortel AP, we did not witness those difficulties with the Cabletron version of the card. We eventually learned that the Cabletron cards use a different version of firmware. If you decide to purchase Cabletron's APs along with its PC Cards, you can take advantage of support that's provided by a single organization.

Lucent Technologies WaveLAN/IEEE PC Card
There's no doubt that Lucent Technologies is an influential player in the wireless LAN industry. It is a leader in the standards process and active in cultivating new markets for wireless LAN technology. Nevertheless, we were a little disappointed that the product was only mediocre overall. At $495, the Lucent cards are priced at about average.

Lucent's wireless LAN installation software, called WaveMANAGER/CLIENT, is a well-designed tool that lets installers optimally position APs within a facility. The Site Monitor tool graphically depicts signal strength and quality of multiple APs, letting the installer reposition APs to maximize coverage while minimizing the number of APs.

Lucent emphasizes its products' superior receiver sensitivity, which translates into increased range. The WaveLAN cards performed quite well in our range tests, but it is not clear whether we can attribute it to the cards themselves or the high-gain antenna that Lucent supplied with its AP. (Intermec also supplied WaveLAN cards with its AP, and the cards did not outperform other products.)

We were surprised and somewhat disappointed to learn that though Lucent's product literature notes the existence of power management capabilities, the shipping product does not support this feature. Lucent expects to add this feature by April.

From a performance standpoint, the Lucent cards had the lowest average of all products tested, but that number was skewed by unusually low performance when tested with the MaxTech Corp. LANescape XWL411 AP. We were more troubled by the fact that the WaveLAN card turned in the poorest aggregate performance of any DS product in our four-station test. We were also disappointed that the firmware upgrade we had to apply just prior to testing rendered the product incompatible with Nortel's AP. Nortel provided us with a fix, but we were somewhat surprised that a company with Lucent's resource base would not perform internal compatible testing prior to releasing new firmware.

No Wires Needed Swallow 550 PC-Card
No Wires Needed's Swallow 550 is a capable offering that includes support for advanced encryption and a 5.5-Mbps transmission mode. It was the only unit we tested that did not include any LEDs to signal association with an AP or transfer of data, but the Windows driver includes an icon in the system tray that provides that information. We preferred the LEDs.

Unlike the other PC Cards we tested, the NWN Swallow 550 was the only one that did not require us to configure an ESSID. Instead, the card searches for all available ESSIDs on a wireless network, and we selected the network with which we wanted to associate. Although we do not consider the use of ESSIDs to be a solid basis for security, some sites may find NWN's approach a little disconcerting. On the other hand, it does provide support for wired equivalent privacy.

We experienced several problems with the Swallow 550 cards during our testing. One card failed completely, and we initially had difficulty associating with some APs. After discussing the problem with NWN, we learned that the Swallow 550 cards were not configured to communicate on all of the 11 available 802.11 DS channels. To resolve the problem, we had to reconfigure all the APs to a channel supported by the Swallow 550s.

We also experienced problems with both our multistation testing and our range testing. Despite our efforts, the Swallow 550 could not complete our multistation tests. While performance in our short-range walled office tests was acceptable, this product could not complete either of our long-distance tests.

Aside from Symbol's card, the Swallow 550 is the most expensive PC Card we tested. In light of the limitations and problems we experienced, we don't recommend it--except for environments that need to utilize its advanced encryption capabilities.

MaxTech Corp. LANescape XWL430 Wireless LAN PC Card
MaxTech is a newcomer to the wireless LAN market and though its products have potential, they still have room for improvement. We requested two APs and four PC Cards from each vendor, but MaxTech initially only sent us two cards. We began with our single-station testing with assurance from the vendor that the remaining cards would arrive shortly. The two additional cards that arrived several weeks later were a totally different design with different drivers. We called MaxTech and reported the problem, but never received extra cards of either type. Thus, we were unable to complete our multistation performance testing with the MaxTech cards.

The MaxTech LANescape XWL430 cards reminded us of an earlier generation of wireless LANs, when vendors of PC Cards separated the radio into a small unit that attached to the case of your notebook. Clearly an obsolete design, MaxTech now offers the WL2430, a much more modern look that includes an integrated antenna. Not only was the XWL430's physical design somewhat half-baked, but it was lacking in interoperability. we were only able to communicate with cards from Lucent and Intermec, in addition to its own AP.

Not surprisingly in light of its large antenna, the XWL430 performed well in our range tests and single-station performance was very good. At $399, pricing was second only to InTalk. MaxTech has plans to deliver an 11-Mbps product, an indication that they are committed to this market.