3Com offers several Access Points -including wireless APs that support Power over Ethernet (PoE) -for extending your wired LAN to wireless clients. APs that support PoE are particularly helpful if one needs to setup a WLAN, but has a facility layout that makes it nearly impossible/impractical to drill holes or to run both the Ethernet and the power cable.

PoE APs can be particularly cost-effective when (a) the user density per AP is rather modest (under 64), and (b) the cabling happens to be a real challenge. If you are faced with such constraints, you may want to consider PoE products (such as the 3Com Baseline Switch 2226- PWR Plus, etc.) that need only a Category 5 (or a Cat 6) Ethernet cable for both -the power and as well as the Ethernet/LAN port.

We have listed below some of the popular 3COM APs, and summarized/outlined their salient features.

3Com OfficeConnect Wireless 108Mbps 11g PoE Access Point:

• Wireless Standards Supported: 802.11b, 802.11g
  
• Ethernet:10/100mbit
  
• PoE Support?: Yes
  
• Encryption: WPA, TKIP, legacy WEP keys, and U.S. government AES encryption.
  
• Data Transfer Rates: Up to 108 Mbps (SuperG mode)
  
• SSID: Supports multiple SSIDs
  
• Access Control: Supports IEEE 802.1Q VLAN, MAC-Address based ACL, IEEE 802.1X AAA, RADIUS Authentication, Rogue AP detection, Wi-Fi Multimedia (WMM) for managed QoS based on the IEEE 802.11e standard
  
• Rogue AP detection: Yes, it identifies and logs unauthorized/unknown APs.
  
• Manufacturer's Product #: 3CRGPOE10075-US
  
• Product Summary: AP supports both 11g and 11b users, and can be setup to function as a bridge operating in point-to-point, point-to-multipoint, repeater, and client mode. Includes many protective features including support for WPA, TKIP, U.S. government-standard AES encryption, Access Control based on 802.1X and MAC addresses, authentication using dedicated/remote RADIUS servers, multiple SSIDs, 802.1Q-compliant VLAN, and Wireless Distribution System (WDS).

3Com 7250 Wireless AP:

• Wireless Standards Supported: 802.11g
  
• Ethernet:10/100mbit
  
• 802.3af-compliant PoE Support: Yes
  
• Encryption: Supports 40/64- and 128/154-bit legacy WEP keys, and WPA, U.S. government AES 256-bit encryption.
  
• Data Transfer Rates: Up to 54Mbps, falls back to 802.11b speeds for legacy 802.11b clients
  
• SSID: Supports multiple SSIDs
  
• Access Control: Supports IEEE 802.1Q VLAN, MAC-Address based ACL, IEEE 802.1X AAA, RADIUS Authentication, Rogue AP detection, Wi-Fi Multimedia (WMM) for managed QoS based on the IEEE 802.11e standard
  
• Rogue AP detection: Yes, it can identify/log unauthorized/unknown APs.
  
• Manufacturer's Product #: 3CRWE725075A-US
  
• Product Summary: The 3COM Access Point 7250 supports up to 253 simultaneous wireless users on your wireless LAN, with speeds up to 54Mbps. It has a coverage radius of about 100 meters or 328 feet. Being a 2.4GHz frequency band 802.11g device, it is capable of falling back to supporting various 802.11b based wifi devices.

  Other features include support for Automatic/dynamic transfer rate selection, 802.11x RADIUS server, Dynamic session key management, MAC address access control lists, Client-to-client and uplink filtering, Dynamic VLAN assignment, External antenna options to possibly extend the coverage range of this 802.11g wireless device to up to 305 meters (1,000 feet), RADIUS accounting, and DHCP. Network management capabilities include Wireless Infrastructure Device Manager and Wireless LAN Device Discovery tools for configuration, diagnosis, and performance monitoring, Support for SNMP, 3Com Network Supervisor (3NS), and third party Network Management applications such as HP OpenView.

In order to install/run 3COM's Device Management Applications, you are going to need a PC (with CD-ROM) running one of the following versions of MS Windows: MS Windows XP/2000 ME/SE/98/95b+ or a NT 4.0+ based Windows OS.

Caution: If you are going to be using any of these multifunction Wireless Access Points (especially the smaller/portable ones) in remote/unknown surroundings (such as in your hotel room, or at a convention center, or at the airport, etc.) to set up your own private wireless hot-spot; we suggest you remain mindful of the possibility that your AP may unexpectedly or accidentally join (associate with) other/unknown WLANs that may be in its vicinity, and possibly show up on someone else's wireless networks as a rogue AP.