August 29, 2006
Wi-Fi Alliance approving 802.11n gear in waves?
Authored by Dan Moren at 3:58 PM
Category | Phone & Wireless
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This is some truly odd—and somewhat disturbing—news. We've been following the progress of the next generation wireless standard, 802.11n, which ought to provide theoretical maximum speeds of 540Mbps, as well as increased efficiency over long ranges. And while 802.11n gear has been released, the final standard has not been approved by the governing body, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Just the other week, the standard review was pushed further back, suggesting that we would perhaps not see 802.11n until 2008.
Now the Wi-Fi Alliance, a business trade group set up to ensure interoperability between various companies' Wi-Fi equipment, has announced that they will step up and certify 802.11n equipment in two separate stages: one against the 2.0 Draft of the 802.11n standard and one when the IEEE standard is ratified. There is no guarantee that equipment from the first phase will be compatible with equipment from the second and final stage.
In some ways this is a step up from the current willy nilly nature of the marketplace, in which each vendor is promoting their own "Draft N" equipment, none of which is guaranteed to be compatible with any other vendor's products. At the same time, approving 802.11n gear now could set a precedent by condoning vendors' actions in launching half-baked products before a standard is finalized.
[via Ars Technica]
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Comments
Thank you Dan,
I agree that it is worrisome how little progress is made for so long time.
Our clients keep asking for the new “N” standard and what it means for them in practical terms. Sometimes they call from a store asking what “Pre-N” means and if they should buy it. Having hundreds of clients that use our computer services in Vancouver, BC, I can tell that the general public becomes more aware of the wireless technology these days, but this makes them even more frustrated with the lack of progress in the wireless technology and with so much uncertainly over the next standard.
Let us all hope that the standard will be adopted rather sooner than later.
Posted by: Vlad Mayzel | August 30, 2006 8:31 PM
Whatever happened to the "i" standard? I'm more interested in stronger encryption right now than I am in higher bandwidth or distance, but that's because of where I work.
Posted by: Sean McGarrahan | August 31, 2006 9:36 AM