Wireless, cabling unite

Communications News, Oct, 2006

Everyone knows that a wireless network actually requires plenty of wiring. Access points, for example, need to be connected to the wired network and to power sources. Cabling vendors started coming to this realization about two years ago, and now several traditional cabling providers sell wireless products, including Ortronics, ADC and Panduit. Now, another company has joined the growing list.

Belden, a provider of wired signal transmission products for the enterprise and industrial markets, and Extricom, the New York-based designer of an interference-free wireless LAN system, have joined in a multiyear, multimillion-dollar global agreement that will focus on developing enterprise Wi-Fi solutions, enabled by Extricom's core technology.

"Our entry into wireless technology presents another avenue for the fulfillment of our customers' needs, with unified wired-wireless solutions they can depend on," says Peter Sheehan, president of Belden Americas, headquartered in Richmond, Ind. "Extricom provides a highly differentiated technology that will be the basis for Belden's future wireless products."

Extricom's interference-free WLAN system represents a fundamental shift in architecture from "cell planning" to a "channel blanket" topology, Sheehan says. The technology eliminates the co-channel interference inherent in traditional WLAN systems, to deliver zero-latency mobility, robust, wire-like client connections, and the ability to design for a guaranteed and predictable level of service for all users. The result, he adds, is a high-performance solution for powering the enterprise triple play of data, voice (VoWLAN) and video.