User Manual

Introduction
11
The Product Package
Each AP-600 comes with the following:
• One metal base for ceiling or desktop mounting (includes two screws)
• Mounting hardware
– Four 3.5 mm x 40 mm screws
– Four 6 mm x 35 mm plugs
• One power supply
• One ORiNOCO Installation CD-ROM that contains the following:
– Software Installation Wizard
– ScanTool
– Solarwinds TFTP software
–HTML Help
– this user’s guide in PDF format
• One AP-600
Quick Start Guide
If any of these items are missing or damaged, please contact your reseller or ORiNOCO Technical Support (see
Technical Support for contact information).
System Requirements
To begin using an AP-600, you must have the following minimum requirements:
• A 10Base-T Ethernet or 100Base-TX Fast Ethernet switch or hub
• At least one of the following IEEE 802.11-compliant devices:
– An 802.11a client device if you have an AP-600a
– An 802.11b client device if you have an AP-600b
• A computer that is connected to the same IP network as the AP-600 and has one of the following Web browsers
installed:
– Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 or later (recommended)
– Netscape 4.x or later
(The computer is required to configure the AP-600 using the HTTP interface.)
IEEE 802.11 Specifications
In 1997, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) adopted the 802.11 standard for wireless devices
operating in the 2.4 GHz frequency band. This standard includes provisions for three radio technologies: direct
sequence spread spectrum, frequency hopping spread spectrum, and infrared. Devices that comply with the 802.11
standard operate at a data rate of either 1 or 2 Megabits per second (Mbits/sec).
In 1999, the IEEE modified the 802.11 standard to support direct sequence devices that can operate at speeds of up to
11 Mbits/sec. The IEEE ratified this standard as 802.11b. 802.11b devices are backwards compatible with 2.4 GHz
802.11 direct sequence devices (that operate at 1 or 2 Mbits/sec). The AP-600b complies with the IEEE 802.11b
standard.
Also in 1999, the IEEE modified the 802.11 standard to support devices operating in the 5 GHz frequency band. This
standard is referred to as 802.11a. 802.11a devices are not compatible with 2.4 GHz 802.11 or 802.11b devices.
802.11a radios use a radio technology called Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) to achieve data
rates of up to 54 Mbits/sec. In addition, Proxim’s 802.11a products support an extension of the 802.11a standard,
known as 2X
TM
Turbo mode. 2X Turbo mode is not part of the 802.11a standard (so devices using this mode from
different vendors may not necessarily be interoperable with each other) but it allows data rates of up to 108 Mbits/sec.
The AP-600a complies with the IEEE 802.11a standard.
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With the exception of the radio configuration settings, all of the information in this user guide applies to both
models, unless otherwise noted.