Date: 03/08/2009
No major change in Wi-Fi certification program after IEEE802.11n draft approval
The Wi-Fi Alliance has announced that it will not change the baseline requirements of its 802.11n certification program, and plans to make only small optional additions to coincide with the finalization of the 802.11n standard later this year (mostly by Sept 2009). The 600 Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 802.11n draft 2.0 products released since June 2007 can interoperate with newly certified devices. The new test program includes some optional features now included in the standard. This validation of the existing certification program comes as the IEEE 802.11n standard is set for final approval within IEEE this September. Product testing to the updated certification is expected to begin in late September.
"Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 802.11n draft 2.0 products have seen wide acceptance across consumer and enterprise markets. It's clear our decision to deliver a draft program has served the interests of the market and Wi-Fi end users the world over," said Edgar Figueroa, executive director of the Wi-Fi Alliance. "The finalization of the 802.11n standard presents an opportunity for us to reaffirm our certification program and to implement additional testing of optional features while preserving interoperability."
"Interoperability across draft and final 802.11n-based products is what really matters as this certification program evolves to mirror developments in the market," said Phil Solis, practice director at ABI Research. "The Wi-Fi Alliance led the industry in 2007 by introducing its 802.11n draft 2.0 program, and is striking the right balance now by adding a few features without sacrificing compatibility with previously-certified products."
The 11n certification program will add support for interoperability testing of some optional features in the approved 802.11n standard. Because all Wi-Fi CERTIFIED draft 2.0 products meet the core requirements of - and interoperate with - the updated program, they will be eligible to use the approved 802.11n logo without retesting.
The additions to the new draft include EAP-FAST and EAP-AKA, both security-enhancing features.
The advantageous features of 802.11n over its predecessors are,
1. IEEE802.11n employs a concept called MIMO (Multiple-input multiple-output) to reach data rates of 600 Mbps.
2. IEEE802.11n uses radio channels of size 20-MHz and 40-MHz to increase through put.
3. The number of subcarriers for IEEE802.11n in each 20-MHz channel is 52, where as 802.11a and 802.11g uses 48 subcarriers.
4. In a multipath environment 802.11a and 802.11g create a time delay of 800 nanoseconds between transmitted symbols or modulated -packets, which is called guard interval to minimize interference between symbols. The IEEE802.11n can reduce this created delay to 400ns based on signal conditions.
To learn more on this read the whitepaper available at,
/www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/wireless/ps5678/ps6973/ps8382/prod_white
_paper0900aecd806b8ce7_ns767_Networking_Solutions_White_Paper.html
The market estimate from Instat says, Wi-Fi semiconductor chip-set revenue will cross $ 4 billion by 2012. Once the standards get ratified the Wi-Fi device market will get further boost.
The Wi-FI alliance website is www.wi-fi.org