Is it an OK procedure to rely on the volitile firmware?

[David L. Vrablic]

I have XI-300's ,Prism II's and 2.5 cards in about half of my boxes.

Is it OK to use the volitile FW feature on all of them and just let them run.
I understand that if I pull a card it will have to be rebooted to get that FW rev loaded again. I actuall saw a 15 point jump on one of the CPE XI-300 last week when I turned it on.
When/ if you find something better will you wrap it in the STAR UG in the future?
------------------------
Also I understand this only works for the client mode.
As I have said before I have been using Lucent Silvers for the long paths over 12 miles because of the enhancements.
With the testing of the P2.5's it looks as if they are getting close in proformance .
Am I wrong here or are we still best served with the Lucents for the longer hauls?

[tony]

Yes, you can use the firmware updater on all your cards without much trouble, especially if you are seeing better performance / signals with it.

The update procedure is automatic (if enabled), so no rebooting or other unusual requirements are required for inserting or removing cards in a running system.

When we receive updated station firmware from Intersil, and it proves to be reliable or has some significant improvement or feature we may require, we will include it in future updates.

For longer backhauls, it is definitely recommended to stick with Lucent (or OEM) cards as the Prism series cannot be distance adjusted. If you are low on signal on an unamped link, then you can experiment with higher power Prism 2/2.5 cards. Once you hit the distance 'wall', no amount of signal will improve your throughput at which point you will require a Lucent card, possibly with a higher-gain antenna, or external AMP.

Thanks!

[georgew]

Can you elaborate on the performance over distance of the prism chipset? Where/when/how much will I see? For example, I have a nice high-gain sector antenna fed off of a prism hp card, this should be a fine way to reach that distant hilltop as well as the nearer hills, but the distant hilltop is the one needing the most bandwidth being a long-haul relay...

So it would be handy to know where/when this performance issue kicks in, and what the degradation slope is, so I know when I cross the line and when I can save money on the hp prism cards.

I guess what I would like to know specifically is what distance the prism cards are tuned to, and what percentage performance is lost for every mile I go past that point. Of course I understand this is rule of thumb only... but knowing this is crucial to being able to decide when to use which technique. Amps are expensive!

George