Wi-Fi alliance: beware 802.11n pre-certified products.THE WI-FI ALLIANCE (Wi-Fi Alliance, Austin, TX, www.wi-fi.org) A membership organization founded in 1999 devoted to certifying 802.11 wireless Ethernet devices for interoperability. The Wi-Fi CERTIFIED logo on a wireless radio (PC card, access point, etc. will not certify any products as 802.11n-compliant until the standard is ratified rat·i·fy tr.v. rat·i·fied, rat·i·fy·ing, rat·i·fies To approve and give formal sanction to; confirm. See Synonyms at approve. in late 2006. 802.11n uses the 5GHz radio spectrum (like 802.11a), but promises to increase WLAN See wireless LAN. WLAN - wireless local area network speed to 100Mbps. The Wi-Fi Alliance wants to avoid problems that arose when hardware manufacturers prematurely released 802.11g products. "Vendors took advantage of unsuspecting buyers when they touted pre-standard technology for 802.11g that later did not meet the standard," Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney says. "Left unchecked, the industry is unfortunately poised to repeat itself with 802.11n." To encourage manufacturers to comply, the Wi-Fi Alliance says it will revoke To annul or make void by recalling or taking back; to cancel, rescind, repeal, or reverse. revoke v. to annul or cancel an act, particularly a statement, document, or promise, as if it no longer existed. the Wi-Fi certification of any product with claims of 802.1 In compatibility if that product adversely impacts the interoperability of other Wi-Fi-certified products. "With this announcement, the Wi-Fi Alliance demonstrates its commitment to ensuring that the Wi-Fi logo stands for product integrity and true interoperability," Dulaney says. Wi-Fi Meets Cellular THE WI-FI ALLIANCE has announced Wi-Fi-certified products providing both Wi-Fi and cellular communication: Wi-Fi-capable PDAs/mobile phones * HP iPAQ Pocket PC h6315 * Nokia 9500 Communicator Nokia 9500 Communicator is a smartphone produced by Nokia. It runs on the Symbian-based Series 80 platform. The 9500 is equipped with a 150MHz Texas Instruments OMAP Processor and 64 megabytes of SDRAM. * Motorola MPx Wi-Fi-Capable Handheld Computer A computing device that can be easily held in one hand while the other hand is used to operate it. The Palm devices are a popular example. See Palm, smartphone and palmtop. * Intermec 760 Mobile Computer Wi-Fi Convergence Accessory (to add Wi-Fi in select PDAs/mobile phones) * SanDisk Connect Wi-Fi SD Card |
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