Keane Insight-News Analysis

SMC introduces 802.11g router with print server

Talk to anyone about the future of connectivity and the answer will be the same: wireless. Wireless technologies are improving so fast that 802.11b could soon be an old and obsolete standard. Indeed, SMC is betting on it. Rahul Neel Mani reports

Companies are now looking at 802.11a and g as the future of wireless networking. With the usage of WLANs and wireless on the rise, vendors are thinking of newer technologies and products to cater to new users of wireless. IDC expects the Indian WLAN equipment market to increase to $5.74 million in 2007. It says the thrust in the market will be provided by players operating in the system integration space since they will make WLANs a part of their overall networking strategies.

Enter SMC Networks, which announced the Barricade g Wireless Broadband Router with USB Print Server. Available at a price as low as $130, this router combines a 2.4 GHz IEEE 802.11g wireless access point, a four-port switch, a Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI) firewall, network management and VPN pass-through. The Barricade g Wireless Broadband Router also allows small networks to attach and share a standalone printer via Ethernet or wireless LAN without needing a desktop switched on all the time.

Since the ratification of the 802.11g standard by the IEEE, smaller vendors such as SMC Networks, Netgear, Linksys, US Robotics and D-Link have introduced a number of products. As is well known, 802.11g boosts data rates on 2.4 GHz LANs from 11 Mbps to 54 Mbps; it is also backward-compatible with 802.11b gear. While it’s a fact that 802.11g products will replace 802.11b products over a period of time, the major challenge before the vendors seems to be to distinguish their offerings and offer features that suit end users, small businesses and corporate teleworkers.

Sanjay Koul, national sales manager, SMC Networks India, says that SMC Barricade routers are ideal for home and small office home office (SOHO) users. “SMC’s Barricade g 2.4 GHz 54 Mbps Wireless Broadband Router with USB Print Server provides truly flexible wireless connectivity by maintaining operability with legacy equipment while allowing for migration to the new high-performance 802.11g wireless standard.” Most vendors in this space are offering a mix of consumer- and business-oriented features in routers. But the new SMC device supports universal plug-and-play. This means that devices on the network recognise it automatically. SMC states that its SPI firewall gives technical users access to advanced settings to create multiple demilitarised zones and configure multiple WAN IP addresses.

Says Koul, “The device is easy to use since it is packed with security features, and the universal plug-and-play MC 2804 WBRP-G sets up easily with its EZ Installation Wizard. Its integrated SPI firewall provides protection against hacker invasions (such as denial of service attacks) by analysing individual data packets as they pass through the router.” The 802.11g Barricade router supports 802.1x for authorisation and authentication, and features Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA), disable SSID broadcast, MAC address filtering, and 64/128-bit Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP). Network access can be further controlled with website-blocking by URL or keyword.

The company says the inclusion of a print server will make its product stand out in the market, and that it can easily distinguish itself from other such offerings. However, Netgear also launched a 802.11g router with USB print server. The Netgear FWG 114 P, which costs about $200, includes an 802.11g access point with detachable antenna, four-port switch, USB print server as well as a serial port connection for an analog or ISDN modem to support remote access. All it lacks is a VPN pass-through, a business feature that lets users connect to a corporate network via a VPN client–something that SMC chose to include. But is there any real value in adding a print server? Koul insists that SMC has been successfully offering the Barricade family for many years.

But Linksys, which introduced and then later withdrew an 802.11b router with a print server, questions the value of this move and cites lack of demand for such products. Company sources say that the Wireless-B Router was outselling the print server version by 100,000 to 1, and thus it was discontinued.

On the other hand in India we are still seeing the evolution of 802.11b & 802.11a access points and infrastructure. Isn’t it too early to talk of the 802.11g in such a scenario? But SMC feels that the Indian wireless market has already started growing rapidly. Most Notebook PCs are provided with integrated wireless adapters now. With 802.11b being affordable today, it is bound to grow more. 802.11a is not that strong a market yet due to WPC restrictions. “However, understanding the benefits of wireless technology, users are feeling the limitations of 802.11b i.e. 11 Mbps. To address this we expect 802.11g (54 Mbps) products as the backbone equipment (like Barricades) where users will have the choice of using 802.11b, 802.11b+ or 802.11g as clients,” explains Koul.

The question is, what kind of market is the company looking at for this product? Who will be the early adopters of this router with print server? Koul says that most of the home and SOHO office requirements are met with one printer in the network. “Since users of a small network share a common Internet connection as well as a printer, this all-in-one integrated product is ideal for them.”

The SMC device also supports universal plug-and-play. These devices are mostly preferred in the home and SOHO networks where products with user-friendly options are always preferred to conventional products. “Universal plug-and-play SMC 2804 WBRP-G sets up easily with its EZ Installation Wizard,” says Koul.

As the wireless market in India matures and the installed base increases, the new router could become an important landmark for the company. But with players like D-Link and Linksys around, there will be no cakewalk for SMC–that’s for sure.