The transition from existing
IEEE 802.11b/g Wi-Fi to the next-gen 802.11n standard will be "bumpy"
and difficult, industry experts warned today.
Analyst firm In-Stat
expects the transition to 802.11n to be more difficult than from 802.11b to
802.11g.
"The second quarter is
typically a slow quarter, and it will be interesting to see how vendors position
draft 802.11n products within their traditional third-quarter back-to-school and
holiday promotions," said In-Stat analyst Victoria Fodale.
Although the IEEE 802.11n
wireless Lan standard is probably a year away from formal ratification, wireless
networking firms are "off and running" with a fast-growing number of
products based on draft 1.0 of the emerging standard.
Approximately 300,000 draft
802.11n routers, clients and access points have already shipped from home and
small-business networking firms such as Linksys,
D-Link, Netgear,
Buffalo
and Belkin,
according to In-Stat.
"Buyers of these products
are early adopters willing to pay two to three times the price of standard
802.11g products," said Fodale.
On the 802.11n chipset side,
draft 802.11n chipsets from Atheros,
Broadcom
and Marvell
are powering draft 802.11n end products.
