Wireless goes where the buffalo roam - Lexon's BreezeNET wireless LAN network for Columbus Zoo in Ohio - Company Business and Marketing - Brief Article

Communications News, Feb, 1999

Officials at the Columbus (Ohio) Zoo were expanding their local area network to link the administration building with seven other sites on the grounds. They wanted to keep costs down and construction to a minimum.

They hired Lexon Corp., a local network system integrator. Brent Beatty, Lexon's system architect, and John Gregor, its technology director, assessed the zoo's options.

"Ethernet copper cable has about a 300-foot transmission range, but we needed to bridge distances of up to 2,000 feet," says Gregor. "It would have cost almost $100,000 to lay fiber optic cable, and extensive trenching would have been required."

Wireless LAN was the best bet, Gregor says, "but the exterior antennas designed for many wireless systems are quite large. The zoo directors didn't want big, ugly antennas in that environment. Lexon Corp. recommended BreezeNET because of its performance, less-conspicuous antennas, and attractive pricing.

A Netware server at the zoo's administration building was linked with Windows 95-based PCS at various sites. The BreezeNET equipment included two AP-10Ds with Omni 7.2 omni-directional antennas at the main server site. There are SA-40Ds PRO bridges with Uni-12 directional antennas connected to PC-based workstations at the sites: the Discovery Reef, the Johnson Aquatic Complex, the Children's Petting Zoo, the Herbivore/Carnivore and the Reptile Buildings, and the Bonobos Building, as well as at the Master Scheduling Building.

After a few months, zoo officials were impressed enough to expand the new wireless network to include three carts with PC-based POS terminals that move from place to place on the zoo grounds, selling refreshments and merchandise. Because the terminals are networked, they are used for remote credit-card authorizations and for recording sales.

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