By Joe Stoddard. Problem: You need to add a workstation to your office network but there's no Cat-5 in sight.
Solution: Hardware manufacturers Linksys (www.linksys.com) and Netgear (www.netgear.com) now both offer power-line networking products that use existing 110-volt electrical wiring to carry computer data. You'll need a power-line bridge to hook up to your existing network, and an adapter for each PC you want to connect. Performance is on par with a 10baseT Ethernet network. Price is around $100 for each component.