In the past IEEE members voted as individuals no matter what company they were affiliated with. Now each entity, ie vendors, research groups, universities, etc will have only one vote and thus limit the ability of one company to sway voting results. Paul Nikolich, Chairman of the 802.20 Committee hopes the change will push forward the standard decision.
Via [news.yahoo.com]

Eight laboratories around the globe have begun testing pre-standard products to see if they stick to WPA2 protocols and if they are backwards compatible with other 802.11 a/b/g WLAN products that have already earned certification.

Although IEEE’s 802.11n standard isn’t expected to be ratified until early 2009, these pre-certification products are expected to reap this year’s back-to-school dollars.
Via [crn.com]

Last year, the Wi-Fi Alliance announced its plans to begin interoperability testing program for draft 2.0 equipment by June this year as well as certify and brand draft 2.0 compliant products, a reversal of a policy that only allowed testing of devices that comply with a final IEEE protocol.
Via [pcadvisor.co.uk]

The proposed “Gigabit WiMax” standard will employ multiple-input/multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology but the arrays will be larger to boost bandwidth. Cellular companies are banking on the new spec to enable “convergence” 4G as it would combine two parallel streams of wireless technology, i.e., 3G and 802.16. The protocol could also allow wireless providers to offer a range of services similar to those by wired networks, including video streaming, IPTV, and VoIP.
Via [arstechnica.com]

Because of its relatively slow speed, the specification is not appropriate for tracking scores of moving products in a standard warehouse but it is helpful for transmitting data directly to the Internet. With the use of lithium batteries, the battery life of RuBee radio tags is seen to last ten years or more.

The IEEE is encouraging “anyone interested in helping develop this standard” to be present at the February gathering. RuBee supporters include Tesco group in the U.K., Germany’s Metro chain, France-based Carrefour and BestBuy in the U.S. Chip makers, network equipment designers and systems developers like Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Sony, Panasonic, Motorola and NCR also back the development of the protocol.
Via [informationweek.com]

Via [techworld.com]

1) The WLAN industry made the right move of supporting legacy 802.11b rather than establishing a new and potentially higher-performing frequency band at 5 GHz, which could cause incompatibility among products.

2) Improving throughput in environments filled with interference from neighboring wireless networks means increasing the number and size of channels. The 802.11n task group is using the 5 GHz spectrum to make this possible. Because of better channel utilization, most 802.11n products are expected to deliver data speeds ranging from 100 Mbps to 300 Mbps.

3) There is a need for IEEE working groups and Wi-Fi Alliance to work in parallel, particularly with more and more products released into the market. Last year, the alliance began with the 802.11n certification process along with the IEEE 802.11n working group, a move that helped remove issues and differences as regards the standard.

4) Resolving latency problems is imperative in order for advanced applications like video streaming and VoIP to work on networks.

5) Any new protocol should manage packet overhead to make data transmission more efficient. IEEE 802.11n standard comes with frame aggregation capability, which allows for combining and sending a series of frames with one overhead frame without having to wait for each packet to be acknowledged individually.

6) Consensus is key to speedier agreement on standards. The creation of the Enhanced Wireless Consortium enabled competing camps to resolve technical issues and obtain consensus faster. The EWC came out with a draft that has gained universal acceptance with the IEEE 802.11n working group and is expected to be approved by early next year.

7) Wireless devices do not only refer to PCs anymore, thus a new wireless protocol must embrace other consumer electronic gadgets, which are used in tandem with home and corporate networks.

8) The demand for higher data transmission speeds means a need for more than one antenna and more than one radio stream, features that are inherent in draft 802.11n.
Via [ddj.com]