802.11n Ratified!

After a process that in computer-time took eons, the 802.11n wireless standard has finally been adopted. Soon you will be able to find wireless network cards, routers, and USB adapters that actually say 802.11n, instead of Draft 802.11n.

Hopefully, people who got tired of waiting, and jumped the gun, will be able to get their Draft N devices updated with correct firmware, so that the pieces will play nicely with other manufacturers 11n devices. Otherwise those pieces will be things that play well only with others of their kind, the way that certain Draft G devices got left behind, during that transition (remember all the Linksys Draft G devices that were left out of the upgrade cycle?)

from slashdot

“The IEEE has finally approved the 802.11n high-throughput wireless LAN standard. Bruce Kraemer, the long-time chairman of the 802.11n Task Group (part of the 802.11 Working Group, which oversees the WLAN standards), has sent out a notification to a listserv for task group members, which includes a wide range of Wi-Fi chip makers, software developers, and equipment vendors. A press release is available now as well. This process began in 2002.”

It’s hard to believe that it has taken that long - I had forgotten exactly how long it really had been -  that settling on the standard has taken. It’s no wonder that so many Draft N pieces are in the wild. Getting fast Ethernet speeds at reasonable distances will make more places accessible, not having to rewire through walls, put in place before the networking revolution.

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Quote of the day:

The more I want to get something done, the less I call it work. - Richard Bach

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