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Enterprising AP

The AP-2000 sports a modular design that allows for the insertion of two radio cards to provide flexibility and a clear migration path. The product is plenum rated and supports the IEEE 802.3af PoE (Power over Ethernet) standard. It can handle the most demanding WLAN deployments and is hindered only by the limitations imposed by the 802.11g standard. (See "Pros & Cons of 802.11g" below.)

Straightforward Setup

Proxim's ScanTool discovery software found the AP-2000 on the network and indicated the IP address as assigned by the DHCP server. I logged into the unit through its Web configuration pages. After giving the AP-2000 a static address, I assigned it an SSID (Service Set ID). Although the AP-2000 automatically chooses a channel based on surrounding interference, in my tests it consistently selected channels that overlapped with the channel of another AP in the building, so I set the AP-2000 to an interference-free channel.




Orinoco AP-2000b/g

click to enlarge

Throughput and Range

To get a feel for how the AP-2000 handles traffic in a mixed-mode environment, and how it handles the traffic load of multiple nodes transmitting concurrently, I conducted throughput testing using 11b and 11g clients separately and then simultaneously. Using NetIQ's Chariot 4.3 network-performance tester,

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