The Slow Drive To 802.11n
"Right now, there's a cost issue with 802.11n for the SMB and smaller markets," said Mark Nomura, director of wireless networking services at Meloko Technical Services Inc., Vancouver, British Columbia. "It's a fairly large jump in cost from 802.11g to 802.11n."
Currently, 802.11n is being used in draft form. But vendors like Cisco Systems Inc., San Jose, Calif.; Meru Networks Inc., Sunnyvale Calif.; Ruckus Wireless Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif.; Trapeze Networks Inc., Pleasanton, Calif.; Siemens Communications Inc., Boca Raton, Fla., and a host of others are shipping product based on the draft. Access points hit the market in recent months and laptops and other devices with embedded 802.11n have followed.
In the enterprise, 11n has been met with open arms. The standard offers head-spinning speed, better throughput and longer range. Its capacity and speed are ideal for companies to run not only data, but also voice and video over the WLAN, rich applications that 802.11n's predecessors—802.11a/b/g—often struggled with.
Despite the bonuses, the midmarket doesn't yet have much use for 11n, Nomura said. Because 11g is a single-chip technology and 11n relies on two chips, the cost of equipment is higher.
Nomura predicted that once 802.11n becomes a standard, it will take up to 18 months for it to become a mainstream replacement for 802.11g. Nomura sells gear from Ruckus Wireless, which will eventually find a sweet spot in the SMB space because of its affordability and ease of use over other competitors.
Luc Roy, vice president of enterprise mobility for Siemens Communications, said that 802.11n has created a divide, but it is ready for the midmarket. He estimated more than half of wireless industry sales next year will be based on 11n, and most of those will go into the midmarket.
"I know some people who are pushing back, some who are saying, 'It's not ready' and some who are saying, 'Do it now,' " Roy said. "I'm going to be one of the ones saying, 'Do it now.' "
But When It Does Get Here
Pankaj Manglik, CEO of Proxim Wireless Corp., San Jose, said Wi-Fi will be the main way businesses access voice and data in the next two to three years. He predicted that within 10 years wireless networks will displace their wired counterparts.
Manglik suggested that 802.11n could propel midmarket deployments of WLANs at a rate comparable to their deployments in the enterprise three years ago—and that VARs will reap the rewards.
"These products are extremely channel-friendly," he said. "They offer high margins and VARs will sell them in high volumes."
David Cohen, director of product marketing at wireless vendor Trapeze, said VARs that serve the midmarket stand a greater chance of getting in the door with 802.11n if their go-to-market strategy is on target.
"The channel needs to tell them the benefits over the cheap stuff. At the end of the day, there's still going to be a lot of people going with the least expensive option, but smarter businesses will not just think about the price tag."