It seems that wireless networking products are all the rave these days. What was once found strictly in big business and production floors that utilized cutting edge technology is now commonplace in the home and small office. The technology is comfortable in either environment. SMC's recent introduction of their Barricade 7004AWBR is proof of this trend. What a little unit this is!

This newest product from SMC is a replacement to the WBR (wireless barricade router) that was discontinued back in June of this year (6-26-01 specifically). The differences between past and present units are marginal. Cosmetically, the new unit looks good, but doesn't accommodate easy stacking due to an awkward hump in the rear/top of the router that provides much needed ventilation. The switched LAN ports are now found on the rear of the unit instead of in the front as its predecessor. The new front end now consists of LED displays that, quit frankly, you can't see unless you're standing directly in front of it at eye level. The AWBR is a small package measuring only 1.5" tall, 9" wide and 5.5" deep. We found its construction to be sturdy, thanks to the fact that metal is used. If you had this in your breast pocket, I bet it would stop a bullet! Don't let its size fool you into thinking it has small capacities. This is THE all-in-one network appliance for small offices and it's incredibly low price tag will help encourage this choice.

Let's take a look at the features. The Barricade 7004AWBR is a broadband router, switch, wireless access point and a print server. I couldn't think of any way SMC could build upon this product w/o the addition of a built-in network storage device (Hmmm..). The box it ships in is labeled as a 4-port router. In reality, the 4 ports consist of one 10mb WAN port and 3 10/100 switched Ethernet ports. The lack of a 4th dedicated LAN port is a bit of a let down. The more ports the merrier has always been our motto and most of the other units competing in this niche offer 4 LAN ports as well as a separate WAN port. The latest firmware (v.1.93k2 updated last week and also found here) adds some new features: 2 bug fixes and a compatibility issue between this device and a 2mbps wireless card. The previous firmware update added some big features like beefing up WEP security to support 128bit encryption. It also increased the number of virtual servers from 8 to 20 and added MAC address filtering. Updating the firmware was a very easy process found in the online configuration options. Point it to the .bin file; hit "upgrade" and viola, new firmware! The version before this most current one came as an executable that would scan your network for the router and update the firmware remotely. It couldn't have been easier. The addition of a windows/LPR print server makes this a stand out feature on an all ready excellent product. This addition, in our opinion, makes the 7004AWBR a best buy for small office connectivity. Its price tag is not intimidating at all. That is also worthy of mention, as many potential buyers will be ranking this high on their priority list when making their selection.

Configuring the router's features requires pointing your browser to your LAN gateway, a standard feature in most all units like this. The online pages are very easy to follow and for those out there that may not be comfortable with some of the more advanced routing features, you will love the "help" button that brings up a new page with detailed descriptions of the topic. The layout is simple, easy to read and easy to change. Some changes require a reboot of the router, which is also controlled via the browser based configuration pages. I was pretty impressed with how complicated tasks became a breeze!. We had no trouble with any of our Internet use coming through the barricade. Gaming, FTP, HTTP, NNTP and all other common protocols were unaffected. It was completely transparent in this regard.

Once it was all configured to our test specs, we basically forgot about it. Its routing was FAST, and communication between devices plugged into the switched backbone was impressively quick. Wireless functionality was decent. Internet sharing from anywhere within our 1 acre down-east testing facility was pretty solid. Signal strength was surprisingly good with our SMC easy-connect card even through several rooms and some solid wooden walls. You'd be surprised at how wall composition affects signal strength and data integrity. Unfortunately, enabling 64 or 128bit WEP brings wireless performance to its knees. This is a little surprising for a new SMC product considering the ABR model it is replacing did not take such a sever hit in performance with WEP enabled. This is always a disappointment and we find it happens to some extent on all the wireless AP's we test. Certainly, it is one of the downfalls of 802.11b. We hope the new 802.11a protocol will change this with it's much faster throughput of 54Mbps. Time will tell if this new protocol will find its way into products like these at an affordable cost.

So what didn't we like about it? Not much. As mentioned earlier, the LED's are almost useless. The problem being that the lights are set too far back in the unit to be seen from any angle other than directly in front of it.

Another option that isn't always standard, but we like to see it, would be the ability to bypass the two antennae to allow connecting to a more powerful external one. This is not happening with the 7004AWBR. The antennae are fixed and cannot be removed. Slow WEB enabled wireless performance is never good, but we have come to expect it from most wireless AP's We also didn't see any mention of features to help facilitate VPN protocols.

In summary, we don't see how anyone could be disappointed with this. Small offices will enjoy the all-in-one ability coming from a device the size of a thin book. Just think, a few years ago it took a closet full of expensive gear to do the job the 7004AWBR can do tucked away on a shelf. Home offices will also enjoy the same features and support personnel will enjoy the easy configuration of the more advanced routing features. Power users will love the snappy router/LAN performance and transparency. Overall, it's the small business, setting up a network on a limited budget, that stands to benefit the most from what SMC has to offer in the barricade 7004AWBR.

Features of the SMC 7004AWBR:
- Very small price for very large features
- 3-port 10/100 switch for your high-speed networking needs
- 9pin COM port
- Fast routing/switching speeds
- Excellent routing/security features including DHCP, NAT, WEP and DMZ
- Built in Windows/LPR print server
- Outstanding documentation provided on CD (included)
- Great web based setup/configuration
- Very small, unobtrusive size
- Metal construction means it will survive a short fall (important in our labs)

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars.
Pros: All-in-one networking device, fast, low price, platform independent, nice web based configuration.
Cons: enabling WEP will cut wireless performance almost in half, poorly thought out LED display, no external antenna support.

SMC Barricade 7004AWBR
Current Street Price: $214.95!

SMC Networks, Inc.
6 Hughes
Irvine, CA 92618
1-800-SMC-4YOU
http://www.smc.com