Mission impossible 4: Bring out the N-WiFi
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Have you ever considered riding a motorcycle equipped with thinnish bicycle tires? It works but not that well, not so well. Because of the compatibility and performance thing.
For hi-tech wireless standards, it’s the same. And after the happy days of “yes yes yes, we’re rolling this marvel out in mid-year”, the IEEE task group working on the 802.11n standard switched to “no no no, not until the next year, my friend”.
What happened exactly? The Draft 1.0 document was accepted by the 11n group in March 2006 by a 87% majority vote. Then the task group began accepting comments and recommendations for changes. And then the group splitted into two opposing camps.
The pro group, for instance Airgo ― whose tagline is nothing but “pioneer in MIMO wireless technology”―, Broadcom or Netgear, those which already lined up some wireless N-routers. And the contesting group, including for instance Atheros, another chipmaker, that claim the future standards won’t show boost performance and won’t provide enough compatibility.
As the result, the 87% fell to only 46% votes in favor of moving the draft to the next step of the review process. At least 75% are required to move on.
So maybe the draft is really bad. Or bad. Or maybe some chipmakers want just to chill off the ratification process to gain some precious development time. Several sources indicate that Airgo has already some brand new N-chips, but Atheros, also a member, is trailing way behind.
Anyway, the standard proposition would remain on track until mid-2007. So it won’t ruin the draft that bad, but will impact a lot more on how end users (consumers, small companies, even companies) could react to current marketing campaigns. At least, us. And you, would you buy this new Asus A6T built with a Airgo N-WiFi chip?
May 4, 2006 | By Nuno
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