Proxim boasts further reach

Wireless networking company Proxim Inc. has upgraded its products to send data over greater distances.

Proxim — which chases business especially in the military, at NASA and in schools — has boosted the range of its Stratum 100 product for fast Ethernet and T-1 networks. Now it can send data by radio as far as 7 miles, company officials announced this week.

The Stratum product, inherited by Proxim after its recent acquisition of Wavespan Corp., previously had a range of 5 miles. Proxim's wireless products rely on radio signals rather than cables or wires to send data from one location on a network to another location on the same network.

Company officials, who announced the upgrade at the ComNet technology exposition in Washington, D.C., are aiming the product at organizations that operate in a campus-type environment or in more than one building in the same area.

"Business operations today continue to become more dispersed, and their bandwidth needs for communications continue to grow," said Kurt Bauer, the Proxim's vice president for marketing.