Gossip

Up and down like a bride's nightie: why Tech-Ed hiccuped

It is the biggest single wireless LAN for a one-off event in Europe, says Oronico - which provided the wireless 802.11b hardware. And on the first day it was up, then down, then up, then down ... why?

Sniffer has found a mole ... and the mole has revealed all.

There are 80 access points all over the MontJuic 2 exhibition centre here in Barcelona; and 5,500 delegates, of whom at least 300 are wirelessly "connected" to the Internet at any moment. And on Monday, they kept complaining that they had coverage, and then that they didn't. And then they did.

Why? Microsoft staff shrugged, and blushed.

The mole reveals that it's simple enough. Compaq/HP staff installed the access points, says our source; and they didn't bother to sort out channel separation. So two access points with the same channel number were routinely found next to each other.

So the signal kept disappearing as you shifted in your seat, and switched to another access point with better polarisation ... or nobody in the way. Fixed, today, the network is indeed a triumph.

"We're learning all the time," said an indignant systems installer. But he did insist that we didn't mention his name ...