I have a graphic-design (all Mac-based) client in Boulder, CO who has recently expanded their facilities. They now have separate offices directly across from each other on the Pearl Street Mall. The shortest distance from window to window is 77 feet across the Mall, with deciduous trees partially blocking the view for 8 months of the year. This client has gigabit networking installed in both offices, with 48-port 3-Com managed switches. The primary office has the file server which employees access via ethernet, with blazing file transfer / access speeds. The satellite office is currently connected to the primary office with the latest Buffalo 802.11ac router and ethernet bridge, but file transfer speeds and access are dismal -- a single TIF file, 4.02GB in size, takes 43 seconds to copy from server to workstation in the primary office, but takes 9 minutes, 42 seconds to copy via the Buffalo devices at the satellite office. Because of these unacceptable speeds, the company needs an alternate method to allow/maintain gigabit network speeds from the primary office to the satellite office. The city of Boulder will not allow a ethernet cable to be strung or buried between the two offices, which is unfortunate. My research has determined that mounting a laser beam transmitter / receiver on the roofs of the two buildings is the best option. I'd like to know if anyone out there has experience with such a setup, and if they have advice on what is the best equipment and who is the best vendor. However, I'd also like to hear from anybody with alternative suggestions. Again, the goal is to have gigabit speeds between the two offices, so that employees in the satellite office can access the file server with identical speed as those in the primary office.
Intra-building gigabit options: advice & suggestions needed
- Thread starter macsolu
- Start date
Not available yet, but this looks like it's going to be a promising solution:
http://www.ubnt.com/airfiber
I have no experience with free space optical, but I'm... suspicious to say the least. Pigeon in the beam? There goes your connection for a second... etc.
While 802.11ac is tempting, remember, it's very experimental, and Buffalo is consumer-grade product. Ubiquiti's current solutions aren't nearly as fast, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if the real-world performance was much better. 802.11ac also isn't meant for range. I wouldn't be at all shocked if a couple of Ubiquiti NanoStation M5's in AirMax mode (one as a WDS-AP and one as a WDS-STA) actually gave much better real life performance (I'm about 99.9% sure they would)... plus they'll be truly transparent (passing VLAN tags, etc). A pair of the Ubiquiti NanoStations would be expected to provide performance just slightly below 100 Mbit/s Ethernet. Which would make your file transfer about 5.5-6 minutes. Far from what you want, but we're talking wireless here. Potentially, you could use multiple links for different parts of the remote office (using your managed switch and VLANs), though without seeing it or really thinking about it I can't make specific recommendations there.
http://www.ubnt.com/airfiber
I have no experience with free space optical, but I'm... suspicious to say the least. Pigeon in the beam? There goes your connection for a second... etc.
While 802.11ac is tempting, remember, it's very experimental, and Buffalo is consumer-grade product. Ubiquiti's current solutions aren't nearly as fast, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if the real-world performance was much better. 802.11ac also isn't meant for range. I wouldn't be at all shocked if a couple of Ubiquiti NanoStation M5's in AirMax mode (one as a WDS-AP and one as a WDS-STA) actually gave much better real life performance (I'm about 99.9% sure they would)... plus they'll be truly transparent (passing VLAN tags, etc). A pair of the Ubiquiti NanoStations would be expected to provide performance just slightly below 100 Mbit/s Ethernet. Which would make your file transfer about 5.5-6 minutes. Far from what you want, but we're talking wireless here. Potentially, you could use multiple links for different parts of the remote office (using your managed switch and VLANs), though without seeing it or really thinking about it I can't make specific recommendations there.
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Difference between gigabit LAN and real gigabit wireless is huge. 10-50x in price. Not doable with WiFi. Arguably, gigabit wireless bridges between buildings isn't often needed or justified, unless we have thousands of users' PCs or big time servers on wireless. Quite unusual.
real gigabit wireless is typically in the 20GHz or 60GHz bands. With stuff like
http://www.bridgewave.com/products/...feb444e1ce91&gclid=CN-_2_He0bACFQQJRQodeWME0Q
I've used Redline's bridges
http://www.rdlcom.com/
Point is, these are not WiFi; they're TDD not CSMA as in WiFi and that makes data rates predictable. Especially if you stay out of 5.8GHz (2.4GHz is never considered in such bridge links).
You have a pair? I thought they hadn't even shipped yet. What kind of performance are you seeing in the real world? $3000 is a bargain for what it is!
I didn't even notice him saying optical, I was just thinking when he said that about AirFiber of Ubiquiti's RF product they're calling AirFiber - $3000 for a pair, dirt cheap for what it is.
Yeah, I am very, very suspicious of free space optical, and wouldn't recommend it....
How's it handle rain? A pigeon in the link? Etc?
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