The Port-A-LAN project began while contemplating how to speed up simplify the setup and tear down time of a LAN gaming event known as the irQconflict. The irQconflict takes place at locations like nightclubs or art galleries where there is no internal network wiring.

The Port-A-LAN is built from a musicians rack case. Mounted in it are two 12-port 10baseT hubs and a 24-port 10baseT switch with a 100baseT port that goes to the game server. The 10baseT Ports are patched into a Cat3 Ortronics patch panel that is wired into eight 50-pin telco female connectors. From these jacks, we can quickly run Cat3 50-pin telco from the Port-A-LAN to each table. By plugging an Ortronics Cat3 6-port harmonica on to the end of each cable, each table is quickly up and running up to 6 machines or more if a handi-hub is jacked in at that point.

The fact that we only have to run a minimum of eight wires for 48+ stations makes setup and teardown dramaticly faster. Not only that, but keeping a few slots open below the mounted devices and the extra space in the back of the rack cabinet allows all the cable to be stowed inside, thus making the entire lan package approximatly a 2' cube.

Note: although the small size increases it portability, it still weighs over a hundred pounds due to the fact that when it's fully packed it is in essence a full box of metal and feels like one too.