Network

This month (June 2007) was marked as for the testing phase of the IEEE 802.11n Draft 2.0 spec, which is the speedier next-generation wireless standard. The Wi-Fi Alliance recently announced the first products certified to the standard, as well as a new logo and test suite to ramp up the certification process later this summer. Final ratification is expected by early 2009.

Some issues are still discussed. One issue is whether these products should play nicely with legacy clients, or whether 802.11n is better seen as an overlay build while older clients are phased out carefully. Other issues are about the architecture, such as centralised versus distributed 802.11n access points, channel bonding and coverage-layout approaches.

The Wi-Fi Alliance plans to perform some backward-compatibility tests, but certification labs are not real-world deployments and surely significant problems will be found, and driver and firmware upgrades will be required.

Colubris Networks, Meru Networks, Trapeze Networks and Xirrus have all announced their 802.11n plans, while Aruba Networks, Cisco Systems, Extricom, Motorola and Siemens are still working on theirs.