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.
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