Wi-Fi Alliance Speeds 802.11n Certification

By Suzanne Deffree -- 8/29/2006

Delays continue to plague the advancement of IEEE wireless LAN technologies, as the industry has now pushed the standardization of 802.11n back to Q1 2008. Meanwhile, the Wi-Fi Alliance today announced plans to move ahead with its certification process based on an upcoming letter ballot approved draft, expected to be draft 2.0 of the specification, in an effort to move interoperable products to market faster.

The follow-up technology to 802.11g, 802.11n is expected to bring additional growth to the consumer electronics market by enabling wireless transfer speeds around the home that are fast and reliable enough to support streaming high definition video and music, and, among other wireless technologies, is considered key to the realizing the promise of the true digital home.

802.11n had been planned for standard ratification in early-to-mid 2007, making compatible products from wireless players like Intel, Broadcom, Airgo, Atheros and Texas Instruments available for next-year’s holiday shopping season. However, technical issues with draft 1.0 and voting delays on the IEEE floor have postponed that.

In the interim, several Wi-Fi products implementing features from draft 1.0 of the specification are in the market now, with analysts forecasting that tens of millions of pre-standard devices will ship in 2007. While some companies, including Broadcom and Atheros, have made independent efforts to ensure compatibility of their separate pre-n products, this has yet to be done across the industry and could cause consumer confusion and frustration with the WLAN technologies.

“The WiFi Alliance’s plan of record was to wait until the 802.11n standard was ratified. Given the delay, the alliance decided on an interim certification,” David Borison, director of product management at Airgo, said. “We support this decision and think it makes a lot of sense, given the issues that are inherent to draft 1.0. There is chaos out there right now with products that don’t work properly and have issues with nearby b/g networks. Draft 2.0 should be a pretty through overhaul of draft 1.0 and should be published in January and if all goes well it should be approved in the March timeframe.”

While Broadcom had a slightly different view, it also supports the Wi-Fi Alliance's decision.

“The move reflects the significance of draft-N products in today's Wi-Fi marketplace and validates the maturity of the draft specification on which these products are built," Mike Hurlston, VP and general manager of WLAN at Broadcom, said. "By certifying the interoperability between draft-N products and those based on the final standard, the [Wi-Fi Alliance] is providing consumers with confidence to purchase next-generation Wi-Fi devices today."

The Wi-Fi Alliance, a main testing and interoperability body behind the 802.11 family of WLAN standards, will certify interoperability of Wi-Fi products that include baseline features from the developing IEEE 802.11nA taskgroup. A second phase of certification will follow for full alignment with the ratified standard, the organization said.

The Wi-Fi Alliance further said that the certification marks used for the first phase of the program will clearly indicate that the products are pre-standard to help consumers will understand that what they are purchasing is not based on a ratified IEEE standard. The alliance expects the second phase of the program, introduced at the time of final IEEE 802.11n ratification, will support compatibility between pre-standard products and those certified to the full standard.

“While we are committed to supporting a full 802.11n standard when it is available, pre-standard products are reaching a level of maturity and there is enough market uptake that a certification program makes sense for the industry,” said Wi-Fi Alliance Managing Director Frank Hanzlik. “The ratified IEEE 802.11n is likely to include a larger set of features and will be a fully reviewed standard. 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.”

© 2009, Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All Rights Reserved.