With the promise of higher speed and longer range, the 802.11n wireless standard can't be finalized soon enough. But the wait for a final approval gives smaller businesses time to assess their needs and plan strategically to make the most of the new standard.
The high-throughput 802.11n wireless LAN (WLAN) standard has taken a big step closer to ratification with overwhelming working group (Task Group n, or TGn) approval of draft version 4.0. While final Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standard publication still isn't expected until next year, there are good reasons for businesses considering implementing the technology to start planning today.
Significant Developments
Recent developments will have a significant impact on the availability of inter-vendor-compatible, enterprise-class 802.11n equipment. First, the Wi-Fi Alliance began interoperability testing for prestandard 802.11n products in the first half of 2007, although consumer grade pre-802.11n products are widely available today.
This isn't precedent setting, as the vendor-driven standards body made a similar move in 2003 in anticipation of the final IEEE 802.11i WLAN security standard by defining and testing the prestandard Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA). In fact, given the sluggish pace of the IEEE in establishing standards (i.e., 802.11n will extend over five years by the time it's ratified), it's likely that the more nimble industry alliance will shortcut future standards as well.
Second, with the TGn approval of draft version 4.0, the specification is sound enough that equipment based on the draft will be software-upgradeable to meet the final spec.
Why Consider Upgrading?
There are two key features of 802.11n that make it a compelling upgrade option -- increased speed and distance using Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) chipset and antenna technology. The new standard touts a theoretical maximum throughput of 540 Mbps, or 10 times that of the widely deployed 802.11g standard. In practice, real-life speeds are expected to be up to 200 Mbps, which is about eight times faster than its predecessor.
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The coverage range of the new standard will be approximately 50% greater than that of 802.11g, with an indoor range of approximately 165 feet. That will make a big difference for businesses that have deployed WLANs but still have areas where coverage is lacking, commonly known as dead spots. Rather than deploying additional access points, the increased range of 802.11n will provide coverage in existing dead spots without increasing the number of APs deployed.
But It Will Cost You
In order to take full advantage of the new standard, it will be necessary to upgrade all client devices. In a mixed-client (802.11g and n) environment, the lower-speed clients will slow the entire network because the spectrum bandwidth must be cut to support 802.11g clients (from 40 MHz to 20 MHz). The full speed potential of the 802.11n network will only be realized if all network devices conform to the standard (referred to as a "greenfield" deployment). When deployment costs are added, the per-AP cost of an upgrade to 802.11n, including client upgrades, could exceed $1,000.
This is certainly the case in the consumer market, where pre-n APs are selling for more than double the price of 802.11g APs. Assuming that an enterprise class 802.11g AP runs about $300, it's likely that 802.11n APs from the major vendors will cost in the range of $450 each. For a 100 AP network, the cost to replace the APs alone will be $45,000.
Next Page: Increased Bandwidth = Increased Costs
