Today (09-11-09) the IEEE Standards Board has ratified the IEEE 802.11n™-2009 amendment. This vote ends a seven year effort to, “enable rollout of significantly more scalable WLANs that deliver 10-fold-greater data rates than previously defined while ensuring co-existence with legacy systems and security implementations” according to the IEEE. The 560-page document describing 802.11n will be published in mid-October 2009. Bruce Kraemer, Chair of the IEEE Wireless LAN Working Group said in a press release,
The performance improvements achieved via IEEE 802.11n stand to transform the WLAN user experience, and ratification of the amendment sets the stage for a new wave of application innovation and creation of new market opportunities.
Kelly Davis-Felner, marketing director of the Wi-Fi Alliance (WFA), told Network World that “The core interoperability is totally preserved with the [existing] draft certification program.” Ms. Davis-Felner says, ”Existing draft-11n products should work seamlessly with future products based on the final standard. No existing products will have to be retested in the updated certification program.”
Today’s ratification marks the high-point for other 802.11 wireless products. This approval will green-light the development and deployment of 11n products in the enterprise. There is no longer a reason for firms deploying greenfield WLAN’s to roll put anything but 802.11n. The WFA expects 11n shipments to rise to 45% of all 802.11 shipments in 2009. Reaching 60% in 2012 based on data from market researcher ABI Research. But how long will 802.11n last?
NetworkWorld is reporting that Microsoft (MSFT), Intel (INTC) and others have formed the Gigabit Wireless Alliance (WiGig). WiGig is to create anew wireless specification with a data speed of up to 6Gbps. WiGig is also actively involved with the IEEE’s 802.11ad task group. And if WiGig is to slow. James Buckwalter, a professor at the University of California San Diego has developed s a silicon-based amplifier that transmits 10Gbps wireless in 100 GHz frequency bands according to NetworkWorld. Coverage could also be over a kilometer, which beats traditional WiFi‘s 100 meters.
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The formal ratification of the IEEE 802.11n standard is a good thing. However we have recommended that clients seriously consider this technology in greenfield installs with Wi-Fi approved 802.11n since the beginning of the year.
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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him at LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
