Cisco Gets An Early Start On Emerging Wi-Fi StandardCisco Gets An Early Start On Emerging Wi-Fi Standard

Businesses that haven't deployed Wi-Fi networks--up to 85% of companies, according to some surveys--now have another reason to sit on the fence. Cisco Systems last week introduced enterprise-class access points and switches based on a new version of the popular 802.11 standard. The still-emerging 802.11n promises higher bandwidth and greater reliability than 802.11a, b, and g, but analysts and even Cisco have warned about the risks of moving forward with gear before standards are completed.

In development for three years, 802.11n has encountered delays and debate along the way, even more than typically surround IEEE networking standards. The IEEE 802.11 Working Group last year rejected a first draft of the specification. Draft 2 was approved this year, and a final version of the spec is on track for ratification in the second half of 2008.

Several dozen pre-standard products, most aimed at home networks, already are on the market. Hastening the technology's arrival was the Wi-Fi Alliance's decision last year to conduct interoperability testing of 802.11n products before the IEEE formally ratifies the standard, a reversal of its normal policy. The alliance is now certifying 802.11n equipment as "draft-ready."

How To Prepare

POWER 802.11n access points require more electricity than other Wi-Fi equipment

LAPTOPS Be sure new mobile computers are 802.11n ready

RADIO FREQUENCY Assign different bands to laptops, smartphones, other devices

UPGRADES Be sure that any equipment you buy can be upgraded to final IEEE standard

Meru Networks and Colubris Networks already sell 802.11n equipment, and now that Cisco has entered the market, other vendors can be expected to join them. Aruba Networks, the No. 2 supplier of wireless LAN equipment to enterprises, plans to release 802.11n gear before year's end.

The Burton Group last week issued a report asserting that 802.11n is the first wireless LAN technology that can truly replace wired Ethernet connections. "For the first time, wireless LANs will exceed the typical performance of wired LANs" by operating at speeds exceeding 100 Mbps, says Aruba co-founder Keerti Melkote. Wired switches typically operate at 10 Mbps to 100 Mbps. "CIOs considering an upgrade to Gigabit Ethernet at the edge [of a network] could easily think of an all-wireless edge instead," says Melkote.

The decision to develop 802.11n products before the final standard has been ratified was driven by the increasing availability of silicon tuned for .11n networks and the appearance of .11n laptops capable of connecting on the new systems, says Ben Gibson, Cisco's director of mobility solutions. If the final version of the standard requires software upgrades, Cisco will supply them at no cost to customers who purchase its draft-ready gear. In the "unlikely event" that hardware upgrades are needed, Gibson says, the company is offering unspecified "investment protection."

NOT DEAD YET
Cisco officials scoff at the notion that 802.11n portends the end of hybrid wired-wireless LANs. Increased power requirements for the new systems put a premium on hybrid networks as a way to provide sufficient electricity to the nodes, they say. Cisco's Catalyst switches will be able to fully power the new dual-radio Aironet 1250 access points from a single Ethernet port. And Cisco's 802.11n gear supports power distribution and "backhaul"--the process of relaying data from wireless access points to the core network--in Wi-Fi environments. "In our view, moving to .11n is both a wired and a wireless decision," says Gibson.

Analysts see the advent of 802.11n as an opportunity for challengers in the enterprise wireless LAN market, dominated by Cisco with two-thirds of the market, to cut into that lead. Aruba, which has seen its market share almost double since going public last March, views the .11n transition as its best chance to go after the large number of companies still in the planning phase on Wi-Fi deployments. "CIOs who don't want to get pulled down by the sinking wired LAN ship will focus increasingly on secure mobility and the vendors who make it a reality," says Melkote.

The next 12 months will tell if the upstart vendor can make good on those claims.