Hawking Gets The Point

mall businesses can occupy large spaces, and a smart new approach from Hawking Technology can help expand a company's wireless connectivity without the need for additional access points.

Hawking's new Hi-Gain Wireless-G Range Extender (HWUR54G) can pick up the signal from any wireless 802.11b or 802.11g transmitter and push it farther outward, nearly doubling the wireless range of an access point in most environments, said Jason Owen, product marketing manager at Hawking, Irvine, Calif. The product began shipping April 13.

With its $99 price tag, the Range Extender doesn't necessarily cost less than certain access points, such as the Belkin Wireless F5D7130 or the Linksys Wireless-G WAP54G, both of which can be found for about $60, according to market data.

But what the Range Extender lacks in rock-bottom pricing it makes up for in simplicity—a key word for small businesses, said Tracy Lewis, vice president of DTNet, a VAR in Tampa, Fla., that specializes in wireless networking.

“If a small business is just looking to extend the range of their wireless network, [the product] makes sense,” Lewis said. “Small guys typically just want more range, especially if they are working from home. And at about 2,000 feet, most 802.11b and [802.11]g systems just fall into a dead spot. Hawking changes that.”

To ensure simplicity, Hawking did its homework, Owen said.

“Wireless repeaters that are currently on the market are all proprietary and work only with specific models of that specific brand. There is no guarantee that one chipset will work with another chipset. This creates a lot of havoc in a market of end users that just want the product to work out of the box,” he said. “Hawking has done extensive research and development to create a [product] that is compatible with all wireless access points regardless of the brand, chipset or network type. It works out of the box.”