The alphabet soup surrounding Wi-Fi standards is set to get a little thicker. In addition to the 802.11a, 802.11b and 802.11g standards, 802.11n will be making its way to store shelves in late June. The Wi-Fi Alliance, the industry association which keeps track of such standards, announced the products and reference designs for 802.11n draft 2.0 on Wednesday.
The Alliance claims that 802.11n should allow for up to five times the throughput and twice the range of previous generation Wi-Fi products. The intent is to accommodate for new home applications, such as streaming high-definition video, online gaming with multiple users sharing the same network, and faster file sharing. The Wi-Fi Alliance’s certification will ensure interoperability between all 802.11n gear, and backward compatibility with previous standards.
“Wi-Fi certified 802.11n is a game-changing milestone for Wi-Fi technology that enables the truly networked home,” said Wi-Fi Alliance managing director Frank Hanzlik, in a statement. “With the advancements of 802.11n, Wi-Fi is the very best technology to connect computing, communication and entertainment devices. It can enable the entire family to access exciting content throughout the home, while further extending the key productivity advantages of Wi-Fi in the business setting.”
The test bed for 802.11n consisted of new products from Atheros, Broadcom, Cisco, Intel, Marvell, and Ralink. They will be the first companies to bring 802.11n certified products to the market.
