Meet LELA, the network setup maid

Mon, 10/06/2008 9:54 AM  |  Sci-Tech

(JP/Zatni Arbi)

A computer network in the home? Why not? In fact, for many it has become a necessity.

As prices fall, processor power increases and software enables us to do more things on our personal computers, everyone in the family would like to have his or her own private computer.

My daughter, for example, never allows me to peep at the contents of her hard disk. Still, all these home computers must be linked together to tap the Internet.

In some households, the PCs and Macs are interconnected to allow everyone to share pictures and music files.

Some home networks now include a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device, which can be regarded as a central deposit box for shared files. A NAS may also be used as secondary storage for backup purposes. A shared network printer is also a common approach to increase cost efficiency.

More and more people are also using the tiny notebooks we have come to know as netbooks. When traveling, they take the netbooks with them. Once back home, they connect them to their home network to synchronize files, and they do the same thing with their smartphones, too.

Add to all of this the IP surveillance cameras.

The fastest way to connect everything to a home network, of course, is to do it wirelessly. Therefore, a home network must also have a wireless access point.

I recently migrated from CBN cable Internet to CBN DirectNet Wireless. Coincidentally, Linksys let me test drive a WRH54G home router for review purposes. It was just what I needed to replace my cable modem/router.

The WRH54G, which costs around Rp 450,000, has four Ethernet ports to connect up to four network devices. The access point on this router conforms to the 54 Mbps 802.11g and the 11 Mbps 802.11b standards. I used another router as I had to connect more than four devices in my home network.

The WRH54G was very easy to set up. I just had to connect the broadband modem via an Ethernet cable to the router. Then I connected my home PCs to the same device and I was in business.

The WRT54G provides a wireless access point, so my daughter was once again able to chat into the wee hours of the morning.

Like most other Linksys products, the WRH54G is shaped as a box. It has two antennas -- one internal and one external. Granted, it is not an attractive decoration for your living room.

Several weeks ago, Linksys launched a much sleeker router-cum-wireless access point in Jakarta. The first thing that struck me was that the new model did not have any external antenna.

"It's a natural evolution," said Craig Gledhill, Linksys vice president for the Asia-Pacific region.

"It's the same as cell phones. Most cell phones today do not have an aerial protruding out of their casing," he said.

"We realize that not everybody has enough technical knowledge and skill to set up their home network."

Therefore, the latest routers from the company now come with Linksys EasyLink Advisor, or LELA.

LELA is a set of tools that guide a novice step-by-step in setting up a network, maintaining it and repairing it if something goes wrong.

It automatically finds the computers, additional routers, storage units, cameras, print servers and other devices connected to the network.

LELA resembles the Network Magic that I have on my PCs. Like Network Magic, LELA also handles non-Linksys devices and checks for updates.

At any rate, setting up your home network is getting easier and easier -- even when you are not familiar with networking terminology and the ways in which devices talk to one another.

-- Zatni Arbi

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