IEEE-compliant wireless multi-vendor interoperability protocol announced

MURRAY HILL, N.J. -- Lucent Technologies, Aironet Corporation and Digital
Ocean have agreed to develop an IEEE 802.11-compliant interoperability
protocol that enables the companies' wireless local area network (LAN)
products to work together.

The specification for the new IEEE-compatible protocol, dubbed the
Inter-Access Point Protocol (IAPP) specification, will also be made
publicly available. The three companies expect the open specification to
spur the development of IAPP-specification-compatible products that ensure
industry-wide wireless LAN interoperability.

The IAPP specification defines how access points from different vendors
communicate with each other to support mobile stations roaming across
cells. The IAPP specification consortium members are working on a
specification for a protocol that defines how access points will
communicate across the backbone network to hand over mobile stations.

"The IAPP specification and the IEEE 802.11 standard," says Cees Links,
General Manager of Lucent Technologies' WaveLAN products group, "will
foster the same interoperability in the wireless LAN market that now
exists in the wired Ethernet world. These standards will guarantee that
customers are no longer limited by a single-vendor solution. Customers
will be free to choose the best solution to meet their requirements."

The IAPP specification builds on the baseline capabilities of the IEEE
802.11 standard. Where the IEEE 802.11 standard addresses the physical and
media access control layers of the OSI reference model, the IAPP
specification tackles higher-level OSI layers such as logical link control
that facilitates inter-access point communications.

"The emerging IEEE 802.11 standard covers the over-the-air interactions of
wireless LAN products, but does not deal with the communication between
access points over the wired backbone," says Roger Murphy, President and
Chief Executive Officer of Aironet Wireless Communications. "The IAPP
protocol will allow access points from manufacturers who implement it to
interoperate. Aironet Wireless Communications, Digital Ocean, and Lucent
Technologies defined an IAPP specification to support interoperability
between our respective products, and we plan to publish the specification
so that any wireless LAN vendor may adopt it as well."

Digital Ocean President, Jeff Alholm, remarked, "The emerging 802.11
wireless LAN standard, while clearly setting the industry on solid
footing, did not address an number of issues, including how access points
talk to each other and specifically, how access points from different
suppliers interoperate. The intention of the consortium is to provide a
joint IAPP specification to the industry that will help accelerate the
creation of ubiquitous, low-cost, high-throughput, wireless networks in
large infrastructures."

"Vendor collaboration on open interoperability specifications such as the
IAPP protocol by major suppliers is a necessary component for market
acceptance," says Bob Egan, research director for the Gartner Group. "This
effort demonstrates a real commitment by these vendors, and should help
accelerate the mainstream adoption of wireless LANs in the intranet
marketplace."

With installations in more than 50 countries, Lucent Technologies is a
market leader in wireless LANs with its award winning WaveLAN wireless
local area network product line. Through its chairmanship in both the IEEE
802.11 and ETSI HIPERLAN committees, Lucent Technologies is also a leader
in the development of worldwide standards.

Lucent Technologies' WaveLAN wireless local area network product line
includes -- in both 915-MHz and 2.4-GHz versions -- WaveLAN/PCMCIA system
for notebook and portable computers, WaveLAN/AT interface for desktop
stations, WavePOINT access point, WaveAROUND roaming software, WaveMONITOR
site installation program and WaveMODEM wireless modem for OEM products.

Aironet Wireless Communications pioneered the wireless LAN industry with
the first FCC-approved spread-spectrum wireless LAN product, and the first
product to support seamless roaming. Since 1992, Aironet Wireless
Communications has shipped over 325,000 spread-spectrum wireless products,
making Aironet Wireless Communications one of the most widely used
wireless LANs worldwide. Aironet Wireless Communications offers 900 MHz
Direct Sequence, 2.4-GHz Direct-Sequence and 2.4-GHz frequency-hopping
networks.

Proven in thousands of installations in retail stores, factories,
warehouses, hospitals and offices, Aironet Wireless Communications
products are used by leading companies including Wal-Mart, Ford and
Damlier-Benz. Aironet Wireless Communications distributes its products
through OEMs and through a growing worldwide distributor and reseller
network.

Digital Ocean develops and manufactures a complete line of wireless
products that support MacintoshR and Newton MessagePad environments
through the company's Starfish II Ethernet Access Point. The end stations
products, called Manta and Grouper, can be configured to interoperate with
Lucent Technologies' WavePOINT and Digital's RoamAbout access points.
Digital Ocean's wireless LAN family includes MicroCellular roaming, radio
diagnostics and site survey software, network administrator's software and
optional security features. Digital Ocean also produces a family of rugged
hand-held computers, based on the Newton platform, that offer a variety of
communication options for in-building and remote applications.

For more information, reporters may contact:

Liz Mammen - Lucent Technologies
201-606-2457
mammen@attmail.com

Bill Huhn - Aironet Wireless Communications, Inc.
330-665-7352
bhuhn@aironet.com

Laura Green - S&S Public Relations for Digital Ocean
415-789-9601 d
 
 =========================================================
 From the 'New Product News' Electronic News Service on...
 AOL (Keyword = New Products) and Delphi (GO COMP PROD)
 =========================================================
 This information was processed from data provided by the
 company/author mentioned. For additional details, please
 contact them directly at the address/phone# indicated.
 Trademarks are the property of their respective owners!
 =========================================================
 All submissions for this service should be addressed to:
 BAKER ENTERPRISES,  20 Ferro Dr,  Sewell, NJ  08080  USA
 Email:   rbakerpc@aol.com   --or--   rbakerpc@delphi.com
 =========================================================
