Extending LANs with ease

With the aim of providing a convenient local area network (LAN) extension solution in mind, Netshield South Africa, a Westcon-Comstor Southern Africa company, has developed its SHEQ compliant APN Case, weighing less than 9kg, a portable Wi-Fi solution that enables the extension of an existing LAN with a line of sight radio link up to 6km from the existing LAN infrastructure.
Perfect for environments such as construction sites, mines, university campuses, game lodges, conference venues and more, the APN Case gives many users a mobile connection to the network where it was previously not viable, where it isn’t possible to lay cables or where GSM connection is unstable.
“In South Africa, businesses often have to deal with working in harsh, difficult and sometimes difficult to navigate environments. What the new APN Case enables is a stable, quality and mobile Wi-Fi connection for those hard to reach places,” says Inus Dreckmeyr, CEO at Netshield South Africa.
“We originally built the solution to solve congestion in Durban harbours as it was taking too long for custom officials to preclear all the goods on ships once they had docked. The APN Case was then flown out to the ships with the customs officials before the ships docked, helping to get the job of clearing goods done before the ships even reached the harbour,” adds Dreckmeyr.
The Wi-Fi technology has been built into a waterproof and dustproof carry case enclosure with a trolley attachment and backpack harness so it is easy to carry and even wear if needed. The case also comes with a fully licensed omnidirectional uplink radio, local AP and GSM configuration, equipped with an external USB port for radio configuration and LAN connection. The APN Case runs off of an enhanced battery backup system and will give 13 hours of continuous operation between charges.
Built-in GSM tracking means the location of the APN Case can be tracked at all times and the case is also fitted with locks. Should the APN Case be dropped or manhandled a shock monitoring sensor will report it via the GSM management connectivity. It will also report on battery status and radio signal strengths and the radio can be turned on or off as needed.
The Wi-Fi AP, LAN point and uplink radios are interconnected inside the portable case creating a remote LAN, using a single point to multi-uplink to a high-site that is connected to the back office network that runs the required application software and security required to access critical information and process information accordingly.
“We have already used the APN Case to provide solutions for multiple institutions in the public sector, including the South African Revenue Service, Mining Industry and Development Operations. Its rugged design makes it perfectly suited to harsher working environments experienced by South Africans. The fact that it is mobile just adds to the APN Case’s convenience.”