…But This Technology Goes to 11.

The real–world throughput of 802.11n is up to 200 Mbps. This is an enormous improvement in relation to 2 – 54 Mbps throughput you get with a, b, or g standards. This increased bandwidth and performance will significantly change the way IT administrators deploy and manage their wireless environments and enable wireless use for more data intensive applications.

What’s the Frequency Kenneth?

Today’s 802.11b and 802.11g wireless solutions operate in the 2.4 GHz frequency while 802.11a operates in the 5 GHz radio band. 802.11n is the first 802.11 standard that operates in the either the 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz frequency bands.

802.11n is also expected to accelerate the growth of the enterprise voice over WLAN (VoWLAN) initiatives. 802.11n could become a part of a broader wireless backbone for many organizations—extending mobility throughout the enterprise.

What’s Under the Hood?

802.11n uses MIMO (Multiple Input and Multiple Output) technology that uses multiple antennae to maximize throughput. When traditional wireless networks encounter interference (metal furniture, cordless phones, walls, people density, etc.) the reflections create multiple transmission paths that interfere with each other. This multipath issue degrades network performance and shrinks wireless coverage.

But 802.11n technology actually uses multipath to its advantage. The MIMO antennas can pass reception and transmission to each other, adjusting for the clearest data path. This increases both throughput and range—especially in environments with many forms of interference.

A Totally Different Animal.

802.11n technology not only provides different, new, improved bandwidth advantages, it also requires a different physical access point set up. Where current 802.11a wireless access points need to be situated in open space to minimize interference, 802.11n is actually built to work with interference.

So even though manufacturers are shipping draft 802.11n gear, it doesn't mean your environment is set up to take advantage of the technology. As such, a wireless site survey is a smart way to help you map out optimal wireless network scenarios.

The Long March to a Standard.

Although the date keeps being pushed back, the 802.11n standard is expected to be approved by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in late 2008. Since work began on the standard in late 2003, IEEE has issued a number of upgrades to the N spec, from “Pre-N” to “Draft-N” to its current development stage, “Draft 2.0.”

Even though the final 802.11n standard has not been approved, the majority of draft wi–fi devices and access points have been shipping successfully. This widespread “off–the–shelf” draft acceptance in the consumer market is definitely affecting the enterprise arena. Leading hardware vendors such as Aruba and Cisco, and chipmakers such as Intel, have been rolling out products using the 802.11n draft specification. And, all draft N products are being designed to work together to achieve the highest level of brand interoperability.

To Wait or Not to Wait.

Unfortunately, there are many reasons it will be very difficult for enterprises to realize the expected benefits of 802.11n in the short–term. The presence of legacy clients negates 802.11n advantages. The benefits of improved bandwidth and higher throughput are easy to achieve in a “Greenfield” network where all APs and all clients are 802.11n–capable.

However, most enterprises upgrade PCs (the most common Wi–Fi client) over a cycle of two to three years or longer. As long as older clients exist, they will affect the performance of the network by connecting at much lower rates than 802.11n clients, effectively slowing cells to near-802.11a/g rates.

The overall throughput falls even below the average of the rates: a client connecting at 6Mbps and sending 4Mbps of traffic effectively takes nearly all the bandwidth available, even if other clients are using 600Mbps rates. As long as even a few legacy clients exist, the expected capacity improvements are unlikely to be realized.

Legacy devices are also unable to take advantage of improvements in range and uniformity of coverage: if 802.11n APs are spaced farther apart to lower costs, legacy clients will likely run into more coverage problems than before.

Up With Upgradeability.

Leading manufacturers can't afford to put out draft 802.11n products now that will be obsolete when the new standard is approved. Though the modifications to draft 802.11n are expected to be minimal, there is no guarantee that all manufacturers will offer firmware to upgrade to the ratified standard. Organizations can mitigate risk by sticking with established vendors whose products may be less likely to run into upgradeability problems when the 802.11n draft is finally released.

What to Do?

Wireless Site Survey? Smart Move.

It's a good idea in general to perform wireless site surveys to measure interference, evaluate frequencies, density of people, walls (even too many wireless access points can cause interference) to work around obstacles that can seriously weaken wireless signals and deliver poor range.

This evaluation not only lets you access your current setup, it also lets you evaluate your facility from an 802.11n technology perspective—information that will be invaluable for your company when 802.11n becomes standard.

A wireless site survey also helps you plan future IT initiatives and answer crucial scalability questions. What if my company needs to add 25 people? 50 people? Additional office space? Additional buildings? It will also help you weigh the advantages of various wireless topologies so you can choose the best topology to fit your business moving forward.

802.11n. From Here to Eternity.

So the question isn't so much whether organizations should consider 802.11n, but when and how. The advantages of mobile workforces have rapidly outweighed the risks as wireless and mobility technologies have emerged to support this modern way of doing business. Wireless technology lets telecommuters, branch office workers, and road warriors work more productively and conveniently.

While the “promise” of the new 802.11n technology is improved bandwidth, network stability, and security, the reality is any investment in infrastructure needs to factor the immediate needs and the fact that wireless equipment (like traditional network infrastructure) is typically an investment that is made for 5–10 years of usage. Selecting a non–ratified piece of equipment today may leave you with a proprietary system that won't scale with time.

Plan now—the opportunity to be able to integrate 802.11n with a/b/g networks is one of the biggest benefits that will improve your network in the short and long term.

For more information please call GreenPages today.
1-800-989-2989

On-demand Webinars
View list

Industry Updates
Industry Recognition and Customer Success Drive Adoption of BEA Web 2.0 and Enterprise Social Computing Products

Linksys Expands Smart Switch Product Line to Meet the Growing Demands of Small Businesses

VMware is a Smart, Secure Virtualization Solution.

HP:
Printer Trade–in Program
HP BladeSystem c3000

Education
The MySpace Effect MySpace is public enemy number one in many school districts. But that doesn't mean social networking tools should be banned outright.

White Papers
Please review GreenPages' current list of white papers from some of our partners.
Available white papers

Threat Watch
Today's threat watch