SYDNEY -- 26 February 2001 -- One of Australia's largest and most dynamic charitable organisations, Wesley Mission, Sydney, has created an instant communications network between its Sydney offices using state-of-the-art wireless networking equipment from Internet leader Cisco Systems.

Wesley Mission has installed data communication links between five buildings at its Carlingford campus in Sydney's west, each building positioned up to 100 metres apart. This group of offices has then been connected back to Wesley Mission's headquarters in downtown Sydney using a dedicated Frame Relay link from Telstra.

By connecting the new links to existing networks within each building, Wesley has been able to bring together 50 people on the site and connect them with about 1,000 people on a common network for electronic mail, file and print sharing and Internet access. It has also enabled all 50 workers to see Wesley's intranet, previously only accessible to those at one of the buildings at Carlingford.

"Suddenly everyone can reach each other as if they were in the same office," said John Armour, Information Technology Manager at Wesley Mission. "Because there were five buildings on the campus, and one is heritage listed, it would have been difficult and expensive to run cables between them. The Cisco wireless solution was cost efficient and very easy to implement."

The new network is based on Cisco's Architecture for Voice, Video and Integrated Data (AVVID). This provides a single IP-based voice, video and data infrastructure. Cisco AVVID is an open, standards-based architecture, allowing third-party products and services to seamlessly integrate into a robust end-to-end networked solution.

To meet Wesley's communications needs, Cisco installed its Aironet 340 series of wireless LAN (WLAN) products, which provide a standards-based, field proven, high-speed wireless networking solution for both in-building and building-to-building WLAN applications.

A key component of the solution was the installation of Cisco Aironet 340 Series Base Stations. The Base Station provides telecommuters and small offices with wireless connectivity to the Internet. Any device equipped with an IEEE 802.11b wireless PC card can connect to a home or small office network through wireless communications with the Cisco Aironet 340 Series Base Station. It delivers an Ethernet-like data rate and supports a typical range of 100 feet or more indoors at up to 11 Mbps and 300 feet or more indoors at 1 Mbps.

Cisco Director of Commercial Sales, Australia, Rick Ferguson said the installation of an IP based wireless network at Wesley showed organisations were taking advantage of the cost efficiencies and flexibility offered by IP.

"Wireless networking based on IP is a burgeoning market in Australia," Mr Ferguson said.

"With wireless networking from Cisco, organizations can provide unheard of capabilities to their workforce, including the ability to connect to the Local Area Network without being stuck at their desk all day," he said.

According to Mr Armour, Wesley Mission plans to continue extending its network by adding more wireless connectivity within buildings and new applications.

"The good thing about the system is that you can start small," said Mr Armour. "Wesley is also very dynamic and the use of wireless means that we can quickly roll out our network to new buildings if we need to.

"Improving internal communications and reducing our overheads is also helping to make Wesley Mission more efficient and effective, allowing us to better perform our important charitable work," he said.

About Wesley Mission Sydney

Wesley Mission Sydney is part of the Uniting Church of Australia. It is a strategic city church committed to the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and a ministry of word and deed throughout Australia. The organisation had revenue of $95.4 million in 2000 and operates 453 distinct programs and centres, providing services and operating charitable business ventures in the areas of aged care, health, counselling, families and children, youth issues, suicide prevention, employment, people with disabilities and homelessness. It is on the web at www.wesleymission.org.au.

About Cisco Systems

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