Belkin Touts New Standard
The solution to both of these problems, the 802.11n Wi-Fi standard, is almost here, and it's a no-brainer that solution providers could make a bundle by offering the advantages of 802.11n connectivity to their customers. Pre-N wireless technology is being feverishly marketed by Belkin, which manufactures connectivity solutions based on the forthcoming standard. The standard increases both coverage and speedwith the emphasis on coveragehowever, there are potential problems. The standard is at least a year away from ratification and once ratified, there is no guarantee that 802.11n will be interoperable with existing technology. CRN Test Center engineers tested Belkin's new Wireless Pre-N Router and Wireless Pre-N Notebook Network Card, both promising products that should bring the Pre-N standard more fully into the mainstream.
Belkin's existing Pre-N products are Wi-Fi certified and fully interoperable with all 802.11b and g devices. The magic behind the new Pre-N technology is MIMO, which stands for multiple input/multiple output. This means any wireless device on a given network uses multiple antennas and parallel broadcasting to communicate concurrently with a wireless gateway.
Test Center engineers were impressed with the range of the Wireless Pre-N Router, and network speeds were also notably faster when the router was used in conjunction with the Wireless Pre-N Notebook Network Card. The engineers found that the increase in speed over traditional Wi-Fi networks was not as tremendous as Belkin claimed, but there was a noticeable difference.
The Pre-N router worked admirably with existing built-in 802.11g technology on an IBM ThinkPad X40. The range of the notebook increased when the 802.11g client was working from the Pre-N router network. Two major gripes about the Pre-N Notebook Net- work Card involved latency issues and an incredible increase in processor usage. When the notebook card was plugged into an IBM ThinkPad X40 running a 1.4GHz Pentium M with 512 Mbytes of DDR SDRAM, latency conflicts caused the mouse to move unevenly, buffering multimedia files was excruciatingly slow, and sound was choppy.
When engineers plugged the Pre-N card into a more powerful notebook running a 2.8GHz Pentium 4 with 512Mbytes of DDR SDRAM, the latency issues disappeared and CPU usage was within normal operating range (11 percent to 14 percent). Solution providers should make sure that potential users have notebooks powerful enough to manage the card. The need for customers to upgrade hardware can open up a great revenue opportunity for solution providers willing to provide the Pre-N technology.
The Wireless Pre-N Router and Wireless Pre-N Notebook Network Card cost $149.99 and $99.99, respectively. This is about $100 more than a traditional g client card and router, but the added coverage and speed are worth it.
Belkin's multitier channel program offers product rebates, priority access to technical support, and a dedicated partner Web site.
