Wireless: RadioLAN Announces the 'Five-Minute Network' Wireless Lan. New RadioLAN Guaranteed Program Aimed at Small and Medium-Sized Businesses Assures Easy Installation, Reliability, and Performance - Company Business and Marketing

Edge: Work-Group Computing Report, Feb 1, 1999

RadioLAN, Inc., Monday announced an aggressive RadioLAN Guaranteed program, which provides to customers specific assurances that RadioLAN products will be simple to use, reliable, and offer superior performance to all competitive solutions. Designed for the Value Added Reseller (VAR), and aimed primarily at the small- to medium-sized business market, the RadioLAN Guaranteed Program includes a unique Five Minute Network kit, complete with a guarantee that a RadioLAN/10 high-speed wireless networking node can be installed -- and up-and-running -- in a PC or laptop in five minutes or less.

The RadioLAN Guaranteed Program also includes a new trade-up program that gives price discounts to those who swap out their low-speed wireless LANs and move up to the RadioLAN/10 system. (Note to editors: See also separate RadioLAN releases "RadioLAN Expands Distribution Channel to Target Small and Medium-Sized Businesses," and "RadioLAN Partners with Tech Data to Distribute Wireless Networking Solutions," also announced Monday.) The RadioLAN Guaranteed program is aimed particularly at small and medium-sized businesses because, until now, they had to chose between three equally unsuitable networking options: expensive, inflexible, and complicated wired solutions; unreliable, slow, and complicated wireless solutions; or no network at all. The RadioLAN Guaranteed Program also reinforces RadioLAN's message to its existing markets -- large enterprises, healthcare and education organizations, and companies that have hard-to-wire facilities or require temporary networks. "In short, RadioLAN is removing the risk for a small or medium-sized business to adapt high-speed wireless LAN technology. And, in essence, we are providing an insurance policy on top of it," said Mark Bosse, vice president of marketing at RadioLAN. "As the only wireless solution with a signal rate of 10 Mbps, the RadioLAN/10 offers performance equal to that of a 10BaseT wired Ethernet -- a must in today's Internet arena. To make a point, we developed the RadioLAN Guaranteed program to dramatize our performance, reliability and ease of use -- three things not normally associated with wireless solutions." Guaranteed Simplicity, Reliability, Performance The RadioLAN Guaranteed program assures customers that they are receiving the best solution to their networking needs -- a solution that is simple, reliable, and performs well. RadioLAN is so confident of its claims that it backs them up with a money-back guarantee. In fact, if a RadioLAN customer finds a product that performs equal to or better than RadioLAN, they get their money back and can keep the RadioLAN product. Simplicity. With RadioLAN's Five-Minute Network Kit, customers can install a RadioLAN node in their PC or laptop computer in only five minutes -- guaranteed. RadioLAN's solution provides the simplicity needed by small and medium-sized businesses and branch offices, which typically do not have in-house IT staff. With RadioLAN/10, wireless networking is quick and uncomplicated, as simple as the telephone. Laptop users can roam an office, a building, or a campus and connect to the LAN wherever they are -- no more buying a laptop and then tying it down with wires to get access to the LAN. And desktop users can move their computer wherever they prefer, since they are not forced to locate next to the one LAN outlet in their office. Reliability. RadioLAN's reliability guarantee promises that no RadioLAN product will suffer from interference for two years from the date of purchase, or the company will fix the situation or give customers back their money. RadioLAN is able to offer this guarantee because RadioLAN/10 operates in the 5 GHz range, where there are few natural or man-made frequency sources that cause interference. WLANs operating at 900 MHz and 2.4 GHz are prone to interference because these bandwidths are crowded with contending frequencies from many different devices, including frequency hopping and direct sequence WLANs, cordless telephones, and microwave ovens. Performance. RadioLAN also guarantees that RadioLAN/10 systems will operate at no less than wired speed (10BaseT). In addition, if the RadioLAN/10 is not faster than any other WLAN product, the customer gets a full refund and also keeps the RadioLAN product. The RadioLAN/10 system is the only WLAN that transmits at the full 10 Mbps Ethernet speed. Wireless solutions that operate at 2.4 GHz have a throughput of less than 2 Mbps and thus do not provide the bandwidth needed for applications such as Voice over IP (VoIP), video applications such as DVD, videoconferencing, Intranet/Internet communications, and client/server applications such as Sales Force Automation (SFA). Trade-up Program. RadioLAN backs up its RadioLAN Guaranteed program with a trade-up program. Customers can trade in their current low-speed WLANs and receive a substantial discount on RadioLAN's 10 Mbps solution -- $299 for clients (list price is up to $499) and $849 for access points (list price is up to $999). More details are available on the RadioLAN Web site (http://www.radiolan.com). RadioLAN/10 is a wireless networking system designed to provide flexible local communication between PCs, laptop computers, workstations, servers, printers and other networked equipment. RadioLAN/10 is the first such system to transmit at the full 10 megabits-per-second (Mbps) Ethernet speed. Price per node is equivalent to a wired 10BaseT network node. RadioLAN offers a complete family of wireless products available in both desktop, ISA CardLINK, and portable, PC CardLINK, versions. The Wireless DockLINK provides any Ethernet-enabled device with a wireless network connection. The Wireless BackboneLINK provides access to a 10BaseT network, while the Wireless Campus BridgeLINK provides 10 Mbps building-to-building LAN connectivity for campus-area networks. The foundation for RadioLAN/10 is 10BaseRadio, a breakthrough technology that has made possible the first wireless LAN products to match the full 10 Mbps data rate of Ethernet LANs. RadioLAN's retail products are compatible with IEEE 802.3 standards and require no FCC licensing. In addition, they can operate with standard 10BaseT wired networks without any modifications. RadioLAN was founded in 1993 to design and market low-cost wireless LANs that operate at full Ethernet speed (10 Mbps) and interoperate with existing 10BaseT networks. RadioLAN products are available directly from the company and through distributors, value-added resellers (VARs) and OEM partners. RadioLAN's corporate investors include Cisco Systems and Intel; the venture firms Highland Capital Partners, Sequoia Capital, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Velocity Capital, TL Ventures (affiliated with Safeguard Scientific, Inc.), ABN-AMRO; and a number of individual investors. RadioLAN can be located on the World Wide Web at http://www.radiolan.com.