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The Point-to-Point of Wireless Bridging: Page 3 of 19


Like many of the other products we tested, the QuickBridge is designed specifically for ease of use, so it doesn't have many advanced features or options. It supports Power-over-Ethernet, and has a special weatherproof connector that protects against moisture infiltration at the connection point. Proxim also includes a 16-character shared-key security system that encrypts all communications between bridges without degrading performance.

We used the Java management utility to view the status of the bridges. Once the link was operational, we could connect to the local or remote bridge using the same application. The utility provides monitoring information, including channel, data rate, receive signal level, packet loss rate and distance. But the product lacks logging and SNMP support.

The QuickBridge's bidirectional throughput of 47.4 Mbps was second only to BitRage's 78.7 Mbps, but its $5,500 price is almost 80 percent less than BitRage. Overall, QuickBridge clearly provides the best price-performance of any product we tested.

Proxim claims a maximum range of 2.5 miles when running at 60 Mbps, and we verified this based on our attenuation measurements. You can increase range to 6 miles by reducing the performance level to 20 Mbps.

Tsunami QuickBridge 60, $5,499. Proxim Corp., (800) 229-1630, (408) 731-2700. www.proxim.com