Intel Puts Un-ratified Standard in Centrino

Intel Corporation plans to include the IEEE 802.11n standard, which is not expected to be ratified before the first half of 2008, into its Centrino chips by next year.

Industry analysts have voiced concerns about plans to deploy high speed IEEE 802.11n devices before the standard is ratified.

It is believed that while a pre-standard version might be suitable for home-use where the technology exists as a closed loop, in an enterprise with a heterogeneous wireless environment there is the potential for it to cause interoperability problems.

802.11 is a group of specifications developed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. (IEEE) for wireless local area networks (WLANs).

The specifications define an over-the-air interface between a wireless client and a base station (or access point), or between two or more wireless clients. The technology is more commonly known as Wi-Fi.

The next generation wireless LAN (WLAN) standard - 802.11n - is designed to power data-intensive media, including multiple HDTV and digital video streams. 802.11n will substantially increase the speed of Wi-Fi connections, supporting consumer electronic devices at speeds of 500 Mbps or greater.

It will eliminate the need to lay and maintain Ethernet cabling, will handle more clients and also increase the range and performance of hotspots.