Is 802.11n ready for the enterprise?

It's faster and has far greater range than current wireless LAN technology. And it's stable. So is the most recent draft of the 802.11n wireless LAN standard ready for enterprise adoption?

Such products are widely available for consumers even though final ratification isn't expected for more than a year. However, unlike the transition several years ago from 802.11b to 802.11g, some vendors will be making a serious effort to sell pre-standard equipment to enterprises.

[See further coverage: Using 802.11n bridging for fast wireless speeds ]

"Is 802.11n ready for the enterprise? I'd say yes," said David Cohen, marketing director for Trapeze Networks. In particular, Draft 2 of the standard is unlikely to change significantly before final ratification, Cohen and other proponents say.

However, skeptics, mostly in the form of market analysts, question whether pre-standard products will succeed.

"It goes against what my 15 years in IT tell me is right," said Michael Brandenburg, a former IT manager who is now an analyst for enterprise networking systems for Current Analysis. "Do I see 'n' getting much [enterprise] market share before ratification? No."

That attitude isn't stopping Trapeze, Meru Networks, and Aruba Networks, all of which say they expect to release enterprise-class equipment based on Draft 2 of the 802.11n standard before the end of the year. Nor has it stopped the Wi-Fi Alliance, which recently launched a testing program to certify Draft 2-based equipment for interoperability.

The question is whether enterprises will care.

Bucking the trend

Large companies rarely commit to a new standard until it is fully ratified because pre-standard equipment may not be stable and is subject to change. And Cisco Systems, by far the largest vendor of enterprise-class wireless LAN equipment, almost always waits until final ratification to release products.

Most observers believe Cisco will wait again. However, the company has placed a Draft 2 802.11n access point in the Wi-Fi Alliance's test bed and is being ambiguous in its public statements.

"We don't comment on products we haven't released yet," said Cisco spokesman Neil Wu Becker. "However, we are the first and only vendor to begin working with the Wi-Fi Alliance test bed, so it is obviously on our radar."

Other vendors, though, are far less ambiguous. They say enterprises will adopt products based on Draft 2 because it is uncontroversial. Draft 3 is expected later this year, but no significant changes to the standard are being publicly discussed.

Even if there are changes, vendors say those changes will be easily upgradeable via software. That, combined with the far superior performance of 802.11n -- it achieves Ethernet-level speeds and has greater range than 802.11g -- make even pre-standard equipment compelling to enterprises, those vendors claim.