Draft 802.11n Wireless Standard Passed

The IEEE on Thursday approved the first draft of a proposal for the 802.11n wireless standard at a meeting in Hawaii. Last week, the group set aside the last of their differences, adopting a proposal put forth by the Enhanced Wireless Consortium, a interest group headed by Atheros, Broadcom and Intel.

While it is not final just yet, chipmakers will likely begin to rush out chipsets compatible with the soon-to-be standard. However, the IEEE warns that until 802.11n is finalized, the products carry no guarantee of interoperability.

Broadcom and Marvell have already announced chips based on the draft, with Broadcom saying its products would be upgradeable in case of any changes in the final revision. The first 802.11n chips could be released by the end of this quarter, Marvell said.

Passage of a proposal requires a 75 percent vote in the affirmative, which it easily surpassed on a vote of 184 to 0 with four abstentions. However, final ratification is not expected until 2007.

802.11n uses a technology called MIMO, which stands for multiple-in, multiple out. In layman's terms, it means a device could have multiple antennas that handle more than one data stream at a time, thus speeding the transfer of data tremendously.

According to test, data rates of up to 600 MBps could be expected. 802.11n devices would also be backwards compatible with the earlier 802.11a, b and g specifications.

"This past October Atheros set out with the Enhanced Wireless Consortium to break the 802.11n stalemate and accelerate a draft that defines significantly higher wireless LAN performance," Atheros president and CEO Craig Baratt said in a statement.

"We have achieved this objective and are confident that our customers can now manufacture products with unprecedented performance based on our technologies that conform to this new draft."