The high-throughput 802.11n wireless LAN (WLAN) standard has taken a big step closer to ratification with unanimous working group (Task Group n, or TGn) approval of draft version 1.10. While final Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standard publication is still not expected until mid-2008, there are good reasons for enterprises 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 has announced that it will begin interoperability testing for pre-standard 802.11n products in the first half of 2007, although consumer grade pre-802.11n products are widely available today.

This is not 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 pre-standard Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA). In fact, given the sluggish pace of the IEEE in establishing standards...