Europe, July 2002 – BenQ Europe (formerly Acer Communications & Multimedia) is launching a new range of broadband wireless LAN products, allowing instant wireless connections to all kinds of data – anytime, anywhere. BenQ broadband products have been available in other markets since 2000 and the success they enjoyed there has persuaded BenQ to introduce them into the European market. Customers in Europe will benefit from a mature range of products with state-of-the-art features at highly competitive prices.
Broadband offers radical improvements in flexibility and Internet connectivity. Speed of data transfer is greatly improved, allowing transmission of large files in a fraction of the time, and multimedia applications can be accessed with ease. For companies this can mean offering customers advanced online services or participating in real-time tenders and stock trading; for home users, it opens the door to Internet Gaming, Video-Conferencing, and virtual shopping.
The first broadband products being introduced by BenQ Europe will allow users to create a LAN – Local Area Network – without having to clutter the office or home with wires. The products – which include the AWL 100 Wireless LAN PCMCIA card, the AWL300 Wireless LAN USB Adapter, the AWL500 Wireless LAN Access Point, and the AWL700 Wireless LAN Router – allow up to 32 users to participate in a network for sharing data, Internet connections, printers, and other accessories. They provide a convenient and high quality alternative to existing wired Ethernet solutions and are ideal for business and private applications.
The AWL100 Wireless LAN PCMCIA card by BenQ connects users to their network without any limitation of space and still offers the same speed as using common Ethernet. It provides both peer-to-peer mode and station-to-AP mode. Its high RF signal quality guarantees optimum transfer.
BenQ’s AWL300 Wireless LAN USB Adapter can be installed on both desktop PCs and notebooks. Easy to install – true plug-and-play – and use, it offers a 11M bps transfer rate at excellent RF signal quality.
The Benq AWL500 Wireless LAN Access Point supports both products as a node accessing the network backbone such like xDSL/Cable in the home or an office LAN. It can accept a maximum of 32 users simultaneously within a radius of up to 400 metres while still offering optimum performance.
The AWL700 Wireless LAN Router provides 4-port auto crossover Ethernet switch function inside to expand your connections. It also allows IP sharing without an extra device, and advanced network management function for different usage environments.
Mobility has become an important part of business life. BenQ’s wireless LAN products allow such mobility in a modern way. Notebooks, for example, can communicate with the rest of the network without requiring any wires. This means that travelling executives can have access to their network at any time, whether they are staying in a hotel, waiting at in an airport lounge, or even travelling on a train. In addition, stand-alone computers can communicate with each other and share important data and peripherals – ideal for small businesses and home offices and for the increasing number of private homes with more than one computer.
Security, of course, is an important issue. And all BenQ’s products include 64/128 bit WEP (Wire Equivalent Privacy) encryption methods to secure data transmission. Essentially WEP creates a set of secret codes that are only shared between the communicating and receiving computers. When data is sent, it is encoded using these secret codes and it can only be decoded and viewed by the computer to which that data is addressed by using the same set of codes. Even if a transmission is intercepted, it is impossible to decode that information without the appropriate codes.
All BenQ Wireless LAN products carry the Wi-Fi approval logo of the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance, meaning that they can establish communications with other WLAN devices similarly certificated. They meet the 802.11b standard, which has revised frequency-hopping spread spectrum technology to direct sequence spread spectrum technology that greatly improves transmission speed from 2Mbps to 11 Mbps.
BenQ is committed to Broadband technology and providing accessibility to the growing number of digital devices. The range of Wireless LAN products feature the very latest technology and are covered by a full five-year warranty.
