Cisco Blesses Wireless-N

Cisco plans in October to begin shipping its new Aironet 1250 Series access point, the vendor's first enterprise-grade 802.11n equipment. The technology, developed in-house, is based on the 2.0 draft version of 802.11n and has received certification by the Wi-Fi Alliance, said Ben Gibson, director of mobility solutions at Cisco, San Jose, Calif.

Cisco also plans to launch a new high-density WLAN controller module for its Catalyst 6500 switches and new Catalyst switches to meet the increased power needs of the new access point, he said.

Industry observers had been buzzing over whether or not the wireless market leader would join several of its peers in rolling out gear based on the draft specification or wait for final ratification by the IEEE standards body. Probably the biggest question of all is how much longer the industry will have to wait for the much-delayed standard to be ratified. Ratification is now expected in the latter half of 2008.

"It's an area Cisco has been keeping close tabs on. We've heard from our channel partners and customers that segments of the market are starting to see more demand for 802.11n," Gibson said. The introduction of more 802.11n-capable silicon and more mobile devices shipping with draft 2.0-compatible radios helped spur Cisco's decision to roll 802.11n equipment out ahead of ratification, Gibson said.

Most customers up to this point have been watching 802.11n but haven't pulled the trigger on sales, as most of the products available now are consumer-grade, said Jeffrey Goldberg, president of Washington Computer Services, a New York solution provider that works primarily with government and education accounts. Customers have also been hesitant to buy pre-standard gear, he said.

"If Cisco comes out and blesses it, now that means that it is real and now they can buy it," Goldberg said.

Goldberg said 802.11n will soon become the norm in WLAN rollouts.

"I fully expect that within two years you will be hard-pressed to find an 802.11b/g NIC, or an access point, bridge or wireless router for that matter, that doesn't do 802.11n," he said.

In general, 802.11n wireless networking promises faster speeds and farther range. Cisco's new access point includes modular slots for two radios, providing up to 600 Mbps of throughput, 300 Mbps per radio. Real-life speeds are expected to be roughly half of that, Gibson said. That would still far outstrip today's maximum wireless speeds of 54 Mbps.

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