The Wi-Fi Alliance is telling the IEEE to hurry up with the 802.11n certification by threatening to do the impossible: certify a standard that it can't certify.

The alliance plans to: "certify interoperability of Wi-Fi products that include baseline features from the developing IEEE 802.11n standard in the first half of 2007." Essentially it plans to certify some of the basic features for the forthcoming 802.11n standard.

01 Sep 2006

The group is losing its patience after the IEEE – the organisation controlling the 802.11 standards – said that it won't approve the n-standard until the first quarter of 2008.

Meanwhile several manufacturers including Dell, Netgear and Linksys, and have ignored the fact that 802.11n is still under development and foolishly started shipping "draft compliant" versions of the wireless technology. It even prompted analyst firm Gartner to issue an official warning, cautioning its clients to stay away from the phoney-certified products.

The Wi-Fi alliance is betting on the fact that its pre-certification scheme will force the IEEE to ensure compatibility between the draft standard and the final version. But it has no way of ensuring that this will happen.

Unless you're currently hitting the ceiling with your 802.11a,b or g wireless technology, there is no reason to invest in draft-compliant wireless technology.

Linksys WPC300N adapter: the 'N' stands for non-compliant to the real standard, not for 802.11n compliant.

technorati tags: 802.11n, wi-fi+alliance, draft, ieee, wifi, wi-fi