Zyxel signs up with Extricom

AIMING TO fix a gap in its product portfolio, Taiwan's Zyxel has signed up to Extricom's radical new WiFi technology. Its intention is to target the small and medium-sized business (SMB) market.

Instead of requiring complex 'cell-planning' techniques to provide adequate WiFi coverage in the typical 'campus', Extricom employs a patented intelligent WiFi switch.

This enables Extricom to provide two WiFi channels simultaneously, without the co-channel interference that normally plagues traditional WiFi systems.

As a consequence, Extricom can actually guarantee that each WiFi clients gets a specific data throughput (depending on whether 802.11b or 802.11a/g is being utilised).

This allows a reseller to provide clients with an SLA (Service Level Agreement) - something which Extricom vp for corporate marketing, David Confalonieri, claims is unique in the industry.

The deal will allow Extricom, which has just expanded its operations in Europe, to concentrate on the top end clients while Zyxel tackles the mid to low tiers.

Confalonieri claims his company's technology is at least two years ahead of the competition which is aiming to solve the same problems with WiFi via news standards such as 802.11E and 802.11R (fast hand-off).

One extra benefit for resellers is that site planning proves much simpler and faster. Extricom claims that sites won't need constant 'tweaking' to ensure acceptable performance.

By contrast, sending technicians out to fix WiFi problems can seriously erode a reseller's margins.

Confalonieri also maintains that the technology allows a reseller to more accurately predict the client's requirements - thereby making it easier to pitch competitively for a job. µ