The deadlock over the 802.11n WiFi standard, which incorporates new antenna technology to quadruple data transfer speeds, could finally be on track. A revised draft of the spec is expected to be introduced at the group's meeting next week in Hawaii (how come most of the standards meetings are in Hawaii--why not Detroit?) and will likely get the required 75 percent of the vote. Two consortia led by Intel and Airgo had competing proposals. By October, however, Intel and 26 other companies established a splinter group to accelerate 802.11n. Lack of a standard hasn't held back products, though. There are plenty of "pre-N" products out there, and no one waits for a standard anymore because they've found an effective way to seed the market with their products and gain market share.
To read more about the 802.11n standardization process:
- check out this article from TMCnet