Pressure builds on IEEE as buyers embrace draft 802.11n products

Stuart Corner
Thursday, 17 August 2006 17:53

Business IT - Technology

They may cost up to three times as much as 802.11g W-iFi products and they may be doomed to early obsolescence but according to In-Stat Research about 300,000 routers, clients and access points supporting the new high speed draft 802.11bn standard have shipped since the draft was issued in January this year.
Leading vendors, Linksys, D-Link, Netgear, Buffalo and Belkin have all shipped products using draft 802.11n chipsets from Atheros, Broadcom and Marvel. "Buyers of these Draft n products are early adopters willing to pay two to three times the price of standard 802.11g products," commented In-Stat analyst Victoria Fodale.

With the standard far from being finalised there is a distinct possibility that these products will not be upgradeable to the final version, and further uncertainty is likely to delay the introduction of 802.11n enabled laptops and other portable computing devices.

According to In-Stat, "Intel is set to release its Kedron 802.11n wireless module within its Santa Rosa mobile platform in early 2007, even though the standard will not be ratified by then. Consequently, there is much pressure on Task Group N within the IEEE 802.11 working group to come up with a more solid standard to put PC OEMs more at ease with the thought of embedding Draft n solutions into mobile PCs."

However latest indications  are that the final 802.11n standard may not be determined until 2008 as the Working Group wades though some 12,000 proposed amendments to the draft.

The delay an uncertainty surrounding 802.11n has benefited some manufacturers. According to In-Stat, so called 'Pre-n' products such as Netgear's MIMO G products have shown healthy growth over the quarter. "These products have benefited from the positive press they have received around performance, and typically have average selling prices that are 30-40 percent lower than those of Draft n products," In-Stat said.