3. Wireless Topologies

RangeLAN2 products look and operate similar to Ethernet products. The only difference is that a radio replaces the wire between various nodes. This means that all of your existing applications that operate over Ethernet will work with RangeLAN2 without any special wireless networking software. Wireless products are typically used in several network topolo- gies described in this chapter.

Ad Hoc

With wireless LANs, one or more computers easily establish an ad hoc network when the units are in range of each other. Each computer can dynamically connect and reconnect to the others with no additional configuration, using off-the-shelf peer-to-peer network operating systems. With this capability, many compa- nies are developing applications optimized for ad hoc networks.

With the addition of the Ethernet Adapter to the RangeLAN2 family, you may now connect resources to your wireless network that previously did not support a Proxim device driver such as printers, UNIX-based systems, and Macintosh computers.

Figure 3

Ad Hoc

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Proxim 7920, 7921 manual Wireless Topologies, Ad Hoc