UPDATED: Realizing that companies aren’t waiting for certification of the next-generation 802.11 specification, the Wi-Fi Alliance announced phased-in approval of pre-standard 802.11n products.
The Wi-Fi group said it would certify wireless gear based
on a draft version planned for March 2007, although the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) is not expected to approve a final version of the 802.11n standard until 2008.
Gear would then be
recertified using the final standard.
“This two-phase approach balances our longstanding commitment to
standards-based technology with the current market need for product
interoperability certification,” Frank Hanzlik, Wi-Fi Alliance
managing director, said in a statement.
The new approach is a departure from the
group’s previous requirement of a finalized standard before gaining
industry certification.
“Pre-standard products always present an
inherent risk for technology adopters, and that is why we will not
certify 802.11n products until the IEEE standard is finalized,”
Hanzlik said in 2004.
“It’s all a balancing act,” Hanzlik told internetnews.com.
While the group would like to see a final standard before placing its
seal-of-approval on products, the organization sees 802.11n “as a
strong catalyst for industry growth,” according to Hanzlik.
Airgo Networks, a company supplying the technology forming the core
of 802.11n, said further delays could cause the Wi-Fi market to
stagnate, or worse.
“Rather than people waiting, they could have a
bad experience,” said Dave Borrison, director of product management.
ABI Research analyst Alan
Varghese told internetnews.com that the Wi-Fi Alliance didn’t have a choice and took the
only stance it could.
Companies forced the group’s hand when they began marketing 802.11n
products based on an early draft of the faster wireless home
networking specification.
For example, Linksys
sells its Wireless-N product line, Netgear offers
the RangeMax and D-Link has the RangeBooster N.
The new wireless technology, promising 100Mb/sec and greater range,
is required to meet the changing demands of consumers.
While Wi-Fi
began as a way to unwire Internet connections transferring mostly
data, today’s wireless networks are streaming data, voice and video.
The increasing popularity of high-definition television, for example,
means a video signal alone requires 20MB of bandwidth, quickly
consuming an 802.11g connection, according to the analyst.
While Varghese had earlier advised that consumers and businesses wait
for a final version of 802.11n, with it now pushed back until 2008,
the analyst suggests delaying purchases for a few months while
thousands of changes are ironed out.
“I see a lot of hiccups, actually,” he said, before the first round of certifications scheduled in March.
The Wi-Fi Alliance’s Hanzlik agrees.
“We believe the maturity
of the baseline features in the pre-standard certification diminishes
the risk that products won’t comply with IEEE 802.11n when it is
ratified,” he said in a statement.
Unlike the case of 802.11g, which experienced a six-month lag
between draft and final standard, 802.11n has seen an 18 month gap,
creating more concern in the Wi-Fi industry, according to Varghese.