802.11n Draft Products on Their Way

The Wi-Fi Alliance has unveiled the products and reference designs that will comprise its test bed for interoperability certification for 802.11n draft 2.0 products, along with a new logo. Products should hit the shelves soon.

The Wi-Fi Alliance originally said it would not certify 802.11n products until IEEE ratification, but in light of a delay well into 2008 and the fact that pre-standard 802.11n products already are shipping (millions of units are expected to enter the market this year), it decided to certify pre-standard 802.11n products based on baseline features from the draft 802.11n standard. As part of a two-phased approach, the Wi-Fi Alliance will certify pre-standard devices for interim interoperability, and complete its program when the full 802.11n standard is ratified.

With the potential to deliver up to five times the throughput and up to twice the range of previous-generation Wi-Fi gear, products based on the new 802.11n draft 2.0 standard will provide whole-home coverage and support content-rich applications such as streaming high-definition video, online gaming with multiple users on a single network, and speedy file transfer of photos, music and more.

The following companies supplied the products used in the interoperability test bed, and have the first devices to become Wi-Fi CERTIFIED:

• Atheros XSPAN with SST Draft 2.0 802.11n Dual-Concurrent 2.4/5GHz Router with Atheros AR7100 Series Wireless Network Processor
• Atheros XSPAN with SST Draft 2.0 802.11n Dual-Band 2.4/5GHz Card Bus
• Broadcom Intensi-Fi 802.11n Router: BCM94705GMP
• Broadcom Intensi-Fi 802.11n Card: BCM94321MC123
• Cisco Access Point
• Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN
• Marvell TopDog WLAN solutions (Station Card)
• Marvell TopDog WLAN solutions (Access Point)
• Ralink MIMObility RT2800PD Chipset featuring the RT2860 802.11n 2T3R MAC/BBP and the RT2850 802.11n Dual Band RFIC
• Ralink MIMObility RT2800PD Access Point

In addition, WildPackets OmniPeek Workgroup Pro is included as a test bed software tool.

Wi-Fi Alliance www.wi-fi.org

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