Still, time marches on. At issue for most enterprises is not whether they'll deploy 802.11n, but when and how.
Standards Watch
Most organizations won't consider adopting a network technology before standards are fully ratified. Experienced network professionals are content waiting for second-generation 802.11n offerings, thanks very much, while launching a few pilots.
This time, though, first adopters looking for competitive advantage won't be putting too much on the line—there are important factors in play here that mitigate risk. First, while early phases of 802.11n standards development produced plenty of design debate, it's been more than a year since most vendors have coalesced around a framework developed by a consortium of wireless chip developers and equipment makers. While the initial design on which the 11n Draft 1 specification was developed had several notable deficiencies, the Draft 2 spec is reasonably solid. The IEEE has responded to thousands of formal comments related to both drafts, and any changes implemented between now and the final standard will likely be addressable through firmware updates. Even the worst-case scenario, in which a change is made that can't be corrected in firmware, won't render draft products inoperable with those based on the final spec. At worst, we'll see minor problems related to performance or battery efficiency.
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The second factor mitigating risk is the Wi-Fi Alliance's decision to move forward with certification based on the Draft 2.0 specification. More than 100 products, mostly for small and home offices, have been ratified. While it's true that the Wi-Fi Alliance certifies only a subset of standards interoperability, it provides a de facto seal of approval that carries great weight with consumers, enterprise IT professionals, and equipment manufacturers.
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