The IEEE 802.11n Task Group may finally ratify the 802.11n standard by January 2010--almost three years after the Wi-Fi Alliance began certifying Draft N products.
The Wi-Fi Alliance, which said it has certified more than 500 pre-N products to date, instituted the certification program after a number of vendors began coming to market with products based on the Draft 2.0 802.11n standard. That action, apparently, gave the IEEE some significant breathing room to take its time to ratify a standard.
The final standard will certainly be backward compatible with gear that is already in the market, and it appears anything new added to the standard will be optional.
For more:
- check out Wi-Fi Planet [1]
Related articles:
Wi-Fi Alliance to pre-certify [2] pre-n products
Cisco introduces enterprise 802.11n equipment [3]
Motorola introduces pre-802.11n WiFi equipment [4]
Siemens says it solved 802.11n power problem [5]
Proxim claims new 802.11n solution is faster and cheaper [6]
Links:
[1] http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/news/article.php/3806341
[2] http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/wi-fi-alliance-to-pre-certify-pre-n-products/2006-08-30
[3] http://www.fiercebroadbandwireless.com/story/cisco-introduces-enterprise-802-11n-equipment/2007-09-06
[4] http://www.fiercebroadbandwireless.com/story/motorola-introduces-pre-802.11n-wifi-equipment/2008-03-17
[5] http://www.fiercebroadbandwireless.com/story/siemens-says-it-solved-802-11n-power-problem/2008-01-28
[6] http://www.fiercebroadbandwireless.com/story/embargoed-proxim-claims-new-802-11n-solution-faster-and-cheaper/2008-11-16