The global WiFi Alliance will certify products built around next-generation WiFi technology, even though the new standard has not yet been ratified, it says.
The alliance is committed to driving a single worldwide-accepted standard for high-speed wireless local area networking.
"While we are committed to supporting a full 802.11n standard when it is available, pre-standard products are reaching a level of maturity. There is enough market uptake that a certification programme makes sense for the industry," says WiFi Alliance MD Frank Hanzlik in a press statement.
According to the association, the certification process will happen in two phases: Firstly, certification of products based on the approved 802.11n draft standard will take place in March 2007. The second phase will be the alignment of the certified products to the accepted standard - this will take place early in 2008.
"We believe the maturity of the baseline features in the pre-standard certification diminishes the risk that products won`t comply with IEEE 802.11n when it is ratified," explains Hanzlik.
Greater interoperability
"The announcement by the WiFi Alliance that it is intending to certify pre-n products after the next approved draft in March 2007 will mean there`s a chance of greater interoperability between the pre-11n products being launched by different vendors," says Wolfgang Held, 3Com`s networks specialist.
"Once the standard has been ratified, it`s more likely that certified pre-n products will be software upgradeable."
However, Held points out that there is no guarantee that products based on an earlier draft, which was rejected at the beginning of this year, will be interoperable with pre-n certified products or the ratified standard. The rejected draft was the forerunner of the 802.11n draft.
"Consumers need to be made aware the products they are buying now are based on the rejected draft, which will not be certified. Though there`s interoperability between the vendors, when the new standard is ratified, consumers will soon find their chipsets are not upgradeable to the standard and they will have to abandon the products they have bought. This will be expensive."
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