Hullabaloo over draft 802.11n wireless standard

An uneasy peace has broken out. After much wrangling, version 2.0 of the draft 802.11n wireless protocol, which will jack up the speed and distance of Wi-Fi signals dramatically, has been blessed by the certifying body, the Wi-Fi Alliance. But now a new war is breaking out, this time among analysts instead of engineers. Should enterprises invest in gear based on a standard that likely won't be finalized until 2009?Conflicting views abound. Some analysts are warning enterprises away, while others say it's foolish to wait. What should companies do? And why is this Wi-Fi standard generating such controversy?Warring EngineersVendors eager to ship sexy new Wi-Fi products are grumbling that the NY-based Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), which is responsible for finalizing the 802.11n standard, is taking too long.But getting consensus from some 200 engineers, most of whom represent vendors with conflicting agendas, can be painful. "You have a whole bunch of meetings with huge blood-fights over bits and bytes as each company jockeys to position its product as the standard. After a couple of years of this, people finally agree out of sheer exhaustion. Then it gets taken up to higher levels of the IEEE for final ratification," explains Bill St. Arnaud, senior director of advanced networks at Ottawa-based CANARIE. Members vote on successive versions of a draft standard, and dissenters who propose changes must make a persuasive case that their approach is better. "It can get argumentative, and there's lots of backroom lobbying and beer-drinking."The timeline to finalize a standard depends on the fierceness of debate, but the process is democratic. Some analysts take an existential view. "The IEEE process is what it is, and it takes as long as it takes," says Craig Mathias, principal at the Ashland MA-based Farpoint Group. "It's designed to be a fair and equitable process that produces the best possible technology. You can't hurry a good thing."The first draft of 802.11n was approved in early 2006 by the IEEE sub-committee, after much infighting among chipmakers - and almost 12,000 changes were subsequently submitted to the group. The second draft was approved by about 80% of members in 2007 - and about 3,000 changes were submitted this round. The IEEE recently announced it will need at least another year to fully ratify and finalize the standard - which means final products likely won't be available until 2009.Placating vendorsBut for over a year, some vendors have been shipping products that claim to be based on the new standard. Many interoperability problems and complaints have ensued from the use of equipment based on the first draft. To protect customers, the Wi-Fi Alliance, a non-profit industry association based in Austin TX, announced it will test and certify products based on the second draft of 802.11n and provide its "Wi-Fi Certified" seal of approval by the end of June, according to senior marketing director Karen Hanley.While there is overlap in the Wi-Fi Alliance's 300 member companies and the IEEE sub-committee, there is no official relationship between the two organizations, she says. "But most of the products we certify are based on standards from the IEEE - we have a symbiotic relationship."The Alliance is currently testing draft 802.11n 2.0 gear to ensure it will interoperate with previous incarnations 802.11a, 802.11b and 802.11g. "Our plan is to update our testing programs when the IEEE's ratification is complete, and that test program will be backwards compatible to now," says Hanley.But 802.11n is a radical step up from previous versions, and there are a lot of unknowns around how different the final standard will be from the current draft. "Some technologists believe the ratified version will be close to draft 2.0, others feel it's only half-way there," she says.Proceed with caution is the Alliance's recommendation, says Hanley. "Where the cost of deployment is less, for example in consumer or smaller enterprise deployments of 100 to 500 access points, going with the draft 802.11n gear is fine. But for very large deployments in a conservative IT environment or enterprise, these companies are being advised to wait."Who needs 100 Mbps?Vendor eagerness to ship new Wi-Fi Certified gear is largely a consumer play, says Michael Rozender, a consultant at the Mount Albert ON-based Fox Group. Although draft 802.11n access points can shuttle signals at eye-blink speeds of about 100 Mbps, few households have content fed in at even 10 Mbps. "So this is really marketing fluff - home networks may need that speed in the future, but not today."However, the enterprise market is fundamentally different, he says. And there are tangible benefits in the here-and-now for some enterprises. "Video is driving demand for more throughput," he says. "Networks work fine at five to 10 Mbps, but if you have a shared network infrastructure and many people doing video, 100 Mbps become important."Wireless video security cameras are an area of keen interest for many of his clients, he says. "A key issue is that when you get towards the edge of the coverage footprint from an access point, the signal usually falls off the edge at 100 meters, and you get poor performance until you're near the next access point." Draft 802.11n 2.0 boosts the signal almost twice as far, and has better WiFi Protected Access (WPA) security, he adds.Another benefit is that the gear can replace CAT5 cabling in some buildings due to the longer range, says St. Arnaud, noting 802.11n 2.0's speed is almost as fast as fibre-optic cable. "It will be easier, faster and cheaper to install Wi-Fi in new office buildings instead of cabling them, and in older ones like on Parliament Hill where you can't pull cable."Warring analystsHow different the final version of 802.11n will be from draft 2.0 is anyone's guess, says Rozender. But industry observers agree there's little financial risk to consumers who buy a few Wi-Fi access points and computer cards - the costs to upgrade later will be minor.Controversy rages on the enterprise front, where there are wildly divergent opinions. Major analyst firms such as Gartner Inc. are warning companies away from draft gear. "Things can change and vendors are unwilling to provide money-back guarantees for upgrades," says Ken Dulaney, a San Jose-based analyst at Gartner. "Our clients don't need this upgrade at this time - they haven't even used 802.11a, and they are willing to wait. For enterprises, 802.11n is about long-range planning and protection."But St. Arnaud believes Gartner is being overly paranoid. "I'm puzzled," he says. "Upgrades are really easy now with new firmware architecture. Uploading the new software later to ensure products are in line with the final standard won't be difficult. At worst, larger enterprises are risking a few thousand dollars, and SMBs maybe a few hundred." Draft 802.11n 2.0 offers big advantages to companies that don't have a fibre or LAN network but need those speeds, or want to avoid expensive cabling, he adds.Mathias agrees, pointing out companies will also miss out on 802.11n 2.0's power for video and voice services on wireless LANs. "Enterprises should go ahead and purchase at this time," he says. "There's a chance that the final standard may require new hardware, but I think it's absolutely miniscule. To maintain its credibility, the Wi-Fi Alliance would require backwards compatibility to the draft 2.0, so customers will be protected," he says.Most major vendors of enterprise class equipment have announced or will announce products based on draft 802.11n 2.0, according to Mathias. But Rozender points out two 800-pound gorillas haven't: Cisco Systems Inc. and Motorola Inc. "One of my major clients is concerned about this, as most of their gear is Cisco. Until this is blessed by Cisco, they're not making a move."Rozender recommends caution. "Bottom line for enterprises, unless they have a pervasive need for higher throughput, especially at the edge of the network, they should hold off," he says. "And always, if possible, they should use professional grade commercial equipment. There's a significant difference from consumer equipment, and that's why costs three to 10 times more."However, he says clients with a strong business need in a greenfield wireless environment should give 802.11n serious consideration. "If they have no existing wireless LAN base, then they can get the latest and greatest without worrying about being compatible with anything."One of Rozender's financial services client is currently involved in a deployment. "They have video and other high security requirements, and they also need to back up everything on the network, not just video," he says. The company has invested about $1 million for about 150 access points and cards, and it will get years of high performance for it, he says. "The network will continue to work beyond 2009. They're getting value today from a network that does what they want it to do. They will have no business case to upgrade when the standard is final."Mathias also points out he has many clients deploying draft 802.11n gear in the high-tech sector, and organizations in education, healthcare and other sectors are expressing interest. "If you're going to wait for the final standard, it will be 2009 before gear is available. So if you want to wait, go right ahead - the only thing that will happen in the interim is you will be buying equipment that won't perform anywhere near as well as Wi-Fi Certified gear," he says.The consequences aren't fatal for conservative companies, he adds. "Even gear based on 802.11b, which is no longer recommended for anything continues to work fine - so it's not the end of the world if you don't buy the latest and greatest."But companies that have a strong business case and want to jump on-board draft 802.11n 2.0 should be aware of a new factor to consider, he says. "A major issue we're looking at now is the pricing of 802.11n stuff. It's fairly expensive, so it will be up to buyers to determine whether the price performance makes sense."

Hullabaloo over draft 802.11n wireless standard

News | June 12, 2007

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