Second Draft of 802.11n Moves Forward

802.11n wireless networking came closer to becoming an actual standard on Tuesday, as the IEEE said that 'Draft 2.0' received more than the required 75 percent supermajority required for the process to move forward.

Nearly 84 percent of those eligible to vote approved of the draft. While the vote does not mean the fight over the 802.11n standard is over, it does show all involved are beginning to meet eye-to-eye when it comes to the actual technical standards within the draft.

The move follows a similar vote in January, which moved what was then the 1.1 draft version forward.

From here on out, subsequent edits would go through what is called a "recirculation" ballot, which means the same group of 325 voters eligible for this round of voting would vote on any future changes, as long as the percentage of approval stays at 75 percent or higher.

"It's clear from the results that the draft is technically solid," former physicist Matthew Gast said, who is now working with 802.11n.

"While there may be some minor changes to the existing text before ratification, it seems almost certain that the major features have taken shape, especially since draft 2 is going to be used as the basis for Wi-Fi certification efforts," he added.

Gast believes that there will likely be some changes to the draft going forward, as it received some 1,441 unique editorial comments and 1,635 unique technical comments. However, major changes shouldn't occur, meaning most 802.11n-enabled devices based on the Draft 2.0 framework should not experience any issues.