AirPort Blog

As a reader posted in comments in the previous news item, the new Apple AirPort 3.1 release adds a third bridging mode when you use the WDS (Wireless Distribution System). The WDS originally let you connect up to four base stations, called remotes, directly to a unit that was hooked up to the Internet, or a master. The new software introduces a relay to which up to four remotes can connect, and which itself connects to the master, according to Dave Russell at Apple, the director of portables and wireless marketing. You can only have one relay per networks, he said.

Apple also released the AirPort Extreme Admin Utility for Windows in beta/preview form. It will work with Windows XP and 2000 equipped with any 802.11b or 802.11g wireless card -- they hope. There are a lot of cards, and they did a lot of testing. They're looking for feedback before they finalize this version because of the variables.

Finally, Apple's adding a packet burst mode for 802.11g-to-g communication that should increase the throughput by a reasonable amount, or actual data transferred after network overhead is subtracted. Their chip supplier was saying 25 percent improvements when all devices use this new packet bursting technology.