Buffalo Technology Ships 802.11g Products

The company, which is aiming its new G54 line of products at the SOHO and SMB markets, said it is selling the devices through distributor Tech Data.

Buffalo's AirStation G54 Broadband Router will carry an MSRP of $199, the company said. The device includes a four-port switch and multisession VPN passthrough support. Buffalo also expects to make available a number of additional encryption technologies, such as Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA), Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP), Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), and the port-based authentication protocol 802.1x with a future firmware upgrade.

A PC card is also available at a MSRP of $99, the company said.

Solution providers are enthusiastic about products based on 802.11g because they promise to deliver 54 Mbps at the 2.4GHz frequency, making the new devices compatible with popular 802.11b, or Wi-Fi, products. The backward compatibility will let customers upgrade to faster speeds without having to throw away old equipment.

The final 802.11g standard is expected to be ratified by the IEEE in May. Current 802.11g products shipping before that ratification are based on a draft standard, but most vendors said they expect to provide a firmware upgrade that will update the models once the final standard is approved.

Still, vendors servicing the midmarket, such as Cisco Systems and Proxim, have said they will wait until the final specification is approved before shipping 802.11g products.