The transition from existing IEEE 802.11b/g Wi-Fi to the next-gen 802.11n standard will be "bumpy" and difficult, industry experts warned today.

Analyst firm In-Stat expects the transition to 802.11n to be more difficult than from 802.11b to 802.11g.

"The second quarter is typically a slow quarter, and it will be interesting to see how vendors position draft 802.11n products within their traditional third-quarter back-to-school and holiday promotions," said In-Stat analyst Victoria Fodale.

Although the IEEE 802.11n wireless Lan standard is probably a year away from formal ratification, wireless networking firms are "off and running" with a fast-growing number of products based on draft 1.0 of the emerging standard.

Approximately 300,000 draft 802.11n routers, clients and access points have already shipped from home and small-business networking firms such as Linksys, D-Link, Netgear, Buffalo and Belkin, according to In-Stat.

"Buyers of these products are early adopters willing to pay two to three times the price of standard 802.11g products," said Fodale.

On the 802.11n chipset side, draft 802.11n chipsets from Atheros, Broadcom and Marvell are powering draft 802.11n end products.