The IEEE 802.11n standard may be more than a year away from being finalized, but the Wi-Fi Alliance is already prepping itself for the certification trials of the next-generation of Wi-Fi.

Managing Director Frank Hanzlik said the alliance will begin to discuss profiles for the technology, such as those specified for handsets or connected home appliances. It will begin to address the technical needs of its growing membership, which now includes carriers, telecom network vendors and handset manufacturers as well as its traditional laptop and IT equipment base. Its marketing group must decide how to position the faster, more powerful and more versatile technology to the public and how to differentiate it from the earlier iterations of 802.11.

The buildup may seem premature with the final standard scheduled for publication in September 2007, but Hanzlik said it takes 12 to 18 months to prepare for a new round of certification, and the alliance's goal is to have the first commercially certified products on the market a few weeks after the certification. The alliance managed to meet that timeline when 802.11g earned final approval, Hanzlik said. But 802.11n will bring a new level of complexity to the alliance's process, involving the testing and certification of countless device form factors and a much greater set of performance benchmarks, he added.

“Arguably, 802.11n will be the most complex technology we've ever certified,” Hanzlik said. “There's a lot of moving parts that we haven't coped with before. We want to make sure we're ready as soon as the standard is ready.”

Perhaps the one item on the alliance's schedule it is being most cautious about is a name for the new technology. Although the group obviously wants to use the Wi-Fi moniker because of its brand recognition and reach, it wants to distinguish the more powerful 802.11n technologies from its predecessors. The Alliance hasn't settled on a name yet, but once it does, it will be very careful how the name is used, particularly before certification actually begins late next year, avoiding the pitfalls its fellow certification body the WiMAX Forum faced last year, Hanzlik said.

Still several members have begun releasing products that promise compliance with the initial draft of the IEEE's specification, calling them “Draft-N” products. Hanzlik said it is trying to discourage any of its members from implying compliance with a standard that isn't yet close to being finalized. So far, those products have just been announced in the last few months, and it's too early to tell whether there will be confusion between proprietary and future standardized equipment, Hanzlik said.

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France's telecom regulatory body, Arcep, recently announced that it was awarding 35 WiMAX licenses in the 3.4 GHz to 3.6 GHz frequency band. Read more in the story, “French award WiMAX licenses.”
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