A leap of faith

Dec 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Lynnette Luna

Extending the speed and range of Wi-Fi to enable Ethernet-like wireless data services that span several office floors and eliminate the Ethernet jack in cubicles and conference rooms is nirvana for existing wireless local area network, or WLAN, users.

That's the notion behind development of the next generation of 802.11 technology, known as 802.11n, which is designed to boost Wi-Fi's data rate from its official 56 Mb/s in the 802.11g standard to real throughput of 100 Mb/s or more.

Although ratification of the final 802.11n standard isn't expected for at least another year, the development process has crept along since its inception in 2003. In March, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) finally moved toward ratifying the standard through Draft 2.0. Changes from Draft 1.0 to Draft 1.10 were minimal, and Draft 1.10 was approved to become Draft 2.0. In turn, ratification of Draft 2.0 is expected by early 2009 — again, hopefully with only minor changes.

But vendors haven't been waiting.

The fact that the standard didn't change dramatically through the first two drafts has increased the comfort level among vendors hoping to offer 802.11n products that incorporate multiple-input/multiple-output, or MIMO, smart antenna technology to increase data speeds, wireless range and reliability. The seal of approval came in May when the Wi-Fi Alliance said it would certify Draft 2.0 products to ensure industry-wide interoperability, security and backward compatibility with previous generations of Wi-Fi equipment.

While consumer Wi-Fi vendors had been pushing pre-802.11n equipment into that market well before the advent of the Wi-Fi Alliance's certification program, enterprise Wi-Fi vendors had abstained, realizing their customers would never accept equipment before final standardization. Eight months later, every major enterprise Wi-Fi vendor has entered the 802.11n Draft 2.0 market.

“What changed is primarily the competitive marketplace, and Cisco [Systems] has legitimized it,” said Stan Schatt, vice president and research director for ABI Research.

Meru Networks was the first vendor to introduce a commercial 802.11n access point based on the Draft 2.0 standard, which it did in May. Trapeze Networks, Colubris Networks and Ruckus Wireless followed in the summer. The two major holdouts were Cisco, which owns about 64% of the WLAN market, and Aruba, the industry's second-largest enterprise Wi-Fi vendor.

In September, Cisco announced several integrated enterprise products based on the Draft 2.0 standard, including its Unified Wireless Network that incorporates the company's Aironet 1250 access point and its 48 Gb/s Catalyst 6500-based WLAN controller system.

“We're at a point where the baseline specification of 802.11n is very stable, and we have a partnership with Intel, which is going to market with 802.11n clients,” said Chris Kozup, senior manager of mobility systems with Cisco. “The Wi-Fi Alliance's certification was a critical point for us as well.”

Cisco's move into the market also spurred Aruba to make a move in November, when the vendor announced a new generation of multiservice mobility controllers to enable unified communications such as fixed/mobile convergence, along with 802.11n access points.

Aruba had been the most vocal about staying out of the 802.11n market until the standard was finalized, even passing around a white paper detailing why enterprises should wait. But Michael Tennefoss, head of strategic marketing for Aruba, cited more stability in the 802.11n standard as a reason for moving forward: “We had product available in June that we were sitting on. We've been waiting for the next generation of chips that improve power consumption.”

Now that enterprise vendors are convinced, are their customers? Given the fact that 802.11n is still a draft standard, Schatt doesn't expect to see large-scale deployments of 802.11n technology during the next six months, but he does anticipate a number of pilots and deployments among certain verticals — such as higher education and health care — that are open to the latest technology.