Dozens Of Products Certified To Next-Generation Wi-Fi Standard

More than 95 next-generation IEEE 802.11n draft 2.0 products have been Wi-Fi Certified in the testing program’s first three months, according to the Wi-Fi Alliance. The first wave of products, from nearly 30 manufacturers, includes access points, laptop computers, routers, and wireless networking cards. Draft 2.0 products combine increased throughput and range in products that have passed rigorous tests for interoperability. Besides interoperability, Wi-Fi Certified testing checks for adherence to WPA2 (Wi-Fi Protected Access) security protocols and backward compatibility with 802.11a/b/g WMM (Wi-Fi Multimedia).

The 802.11n standard is based on the Multiple-Input, Multiple-Output (MIMO) air interface technology, which employs multiple receivers and transmitters to transport two or more data streams simultaneously in the same frequency channels. Wi-Fi Certified draft 2.0 products can achieve data rates of up to 300 Mbits/s. The Wi-Fi Alliance plans to certify products based on the final version of the 802.11n standard once ratified by the IEEE. A list of all Wi-Fi Certified products and free white papers on the technology are available at http://www.wi-fi.com.