Interop: A Glimpse at the 802.11n Future

In a similar vein to a post I put up recently titled The Time is Now to Go to 802.11n, several 802.11n-related initiatives are taking shape this week that should be of interest to web workers. Whether your home Wi-Fi network is already 802.11n-based or not, quite a few interesting new offerings are being shown at the Las Vegas Interop show.

What’s most interesting about the new products being shown is the unexpected diversity of 802.11n technologies.


New 802.11n access points being shown at Interop vary in terms of the numbers of radios they have, which frequency bands are supported, power requirements, and price. For example, Aruba Networks is releasing two-radio access points that can ostensibly boost data rate speeds dramatically. Aruba works closely with the Wi-Fi alliance on Wi-Fi standards. Aruba also has an upgrade to its portable access point, the Mobile Remote, that has a port for a 3G cellular adapter card, according to InfoWorld.

This last lash-up, combining 3G functionality with next-generation Wi-Fi, is something I expect to see much more of in products aimed at home Wi-Fi users. For example, a 3G version of the iPhone is widely expected to arrive soon, and I could see Apple catering to phone and computer users who want flexibility in how they use 3G and 802.11n (Apple’s Airport routers come with Draft-802.11n built in.)

Some of the Wi-Fi products being shown at Interop, such as products from Aerohive, are squarely aimed at enterprise workers and aren’t yet straight up the average web worker’s alley. However, even in the cases of these high-end products, one gets a glimpse of what could arrive in home 802.11n products soon. There are so many new approaches to conserving power consumption, for example, that I expect that to trickle down to the home products. Check out more of the 802.11n action coming from the show.

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