Posted: 19th Mar, 2004 By: MarkJ
The Wi-Fi Alliance has used the CeBIT trade show to reveal its technological future in the shape of 802.11n, a standard that, come autumn next year, will push speeds up to and above 100Mbps:
Unveiling its roadmap for wireless services, the Wi-Fi Alliance predicted that 802.11n -- the eagerly awaited successor to today's Wi-Fi standards -- would be up and running in about 18 months. This is earlier than had previously been predicted.
"We estimate that the IEEE task-group for 802.11n will complete its work in the third quarter of 2005," a Wi-Fi Alliance spokesman said. He added that products based on the standard would also go on sale in the quarter, and that the Alliance will have a certification process in place in time for these launches.
After the farrago surrounding the 802.11g standard last year -- when certain manufacturers took the questionable decision to launch equipment based on 802.11g before the standard had actually been ratified -- the Alliance is keen to prevent a repeat performance. However, as the companies that jumped the gun benefited through extra sales, this could be difficult to prevent.Typically, just because a wireless standard claims to push 100Mbps, that doesn't mean to say itll reflect actual real-world performance. More @
ZDNet.