Wi-Fi Alliance Begins Draft-N Certification

Written by Adam Gosling

Tuesday, 26 June 2007

Tired of waiting for the hopelessly convoluted standards process to serve up a unified standard for next generation Wi-Fi, the industry has pressed ahead, giving pre-standard equipment a new respectability. The Wi-Fi Alliance, an industry organisation formed by vendors to promote the 802.11 technologies is prempting the IEEE standards process and has begun testing and certification of the latest Draft of the standard rather than wait another year before the official standard is completed and ratified. The Wi-Fi Alliance Authorized Test Laboratories has announced it began testing products to certify them against the 802.11n Draft 2.0 and plans to get its member's products stamped and approved in time for the US back-to-school spending spree. The Draft 2.0 products will be tested for interoperability across vendors, adherence to WPA2 (Wi-Fi Protected Access) security protocols, and backward compatibility with more than 3,500 Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 802.11n a/b/g products, says the Alliance. "Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 802.11n draft 2.0 Wi-Fi brings the digital home of the future to life today, and revolutionizes the capabilities of enterprise networking. It is the most important advance for Wi-Fi technology since its invention," said Wi-Fi Alliance managing director Frank Hanzlik. "With the launch of this certification program, the industry as a whole has come together to deliver the very best user experience - helping ensure that consumers and enterprises can purchase with confidence and make the most of advanced Wi-Fi technology today." "With the advancements offered by 802.11n, Wi-Fi takes center stage as a key technology for networked digital home applications such as streaming high-definition video and interactive gaming," said Kurt Scherf, vice president and principal analyst with Parks Associates. "Because Wi-Fi is so easy to use, and certification means different brands of gear work together, we expect the momentum to continue. There will be substantial implementation of 802.11n Wi-Fi in certain consumer electronics products." Related news items Major Players To Test WiMAX Interoperability -26/09/2007 New Flash Memeory Card Standard Coming -16/09/2007 Real Savings From Mobile Deployments: IDC -05/08/2007 D-Link Boosts Draft N Range -30/07/2007 GPS Satellite Cooperation -30/07/2007 Newer news items Broadcom Enthusisam for 802.11n Wavers -06/09/2007 D-Link Ships Half A Million Draft N Devices -14/08/2007 Consumer Electronics Takes Interest In 802.11n -12/08/2007 Boingo Goes Flat On Global Roaming -26/06/2007 Older news items D-Link Routers To Make Sharing Easy -24/04/2007 Easy VoIP System For Mobile Makers -16/03/2007 Draft N Inches Forward -14/03/2007 Agere Sells Wireless Patents -02/03/2007 Atheros Reaches 100 Million Chip Landmark -27/02/2007 Tag This Now: