Alex Scroxton
Microscope.co.uk

The wireless 802.11n standard has finally been passed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) after seven years of work.

The standards were originally mooted in 2002 and the draft was first released by the IEEE a year later. Since 2007 the vast majority of wireless equipment on the market, including routers, wireless-enabled laptops and netbooks and so on has been compatible with the draft standard.

Although 802.11n kit has been shipping for two years, up until now the channel has been unable to guarantee their customers that past product releases would be compatible with the standard, or future kit compatible with installed estate, instead relying on vendor goodwill to ensure everything worked correctly.

"The channel can now make a very strong case that the equipment will remain compatible," said Phil Bellanger, vice president of marketing and business development at WLAN vendor Extricom.

"They can offer their customers that assurance, and in general vendors have understood the importance of that," he added. "Wireless resellers are now in a very solid position."

While work has already begun on a future standard that is expected to offer much higher throughput in a higher frequency band, but Bellanger said there would be no cause for concern, as the 802.11n standard will remain relevant for a long time to come.

"I believe we're going to see at least two further waves of innovation around 11n. In another six months we will begin to see the first wave of fully-compliant products," Bellanger said.

He also reassured those concerned with the length of time taken to ratify 802.11n, noting that having taken considerable flak over its tardiness, the IEEE was taking steps to speed up the process in future.

The original version of this article appeared in the Microscope website on 15 September 2009.