Pee-ing All Over 802.11n? Not Really.

The market is fascinated with and salivating over 802.11n.  Any vendor saying anything about the technology seems to get an unwarranted amount of attention.  Cisco is just the latest. 

Call it peer pressure, but Cisco announced the availability of their first 802.11n enterprise AP - the dual-radio Aironet 1250 - touting it as "the first enterprise-focused vendor-branded access point in the Wi-Fi Alliance's pre-802.11n Draft 2.0 certification test bed." And all for the rock bottom low price of $1,299.  You've got to give it to Cisco for being as aggressive as they are for being so rotund.

While 802.11n represents a huge increase in potential top line capacity, the ugly truth is that 802.11n, as great as it is, (and we actually think it's great) won't become mainstream in the enterprise anytime soon - especially the way it's being proposed by vendors to give users higher speed Wi-Fi access.

First, it is a fundamental architectural departure from traditional Wi-Fi technology, taking advantage of new and very complex spatial multiplexing techniques. But what's more, it's too expensive.

802.11n requires new silicon that is currently 3 to 4X more expensive than existing 802.11a/b/g silicon.  And this isn't a single chipset. It's multiple chips. 

It also mandates new hardware on both the transmit and receive ends of the connection. This means that every computer will need a new network interface card or Wi-Fi chip that supports 802.11n (with a hefty cost associated with it). Broadcom recently said as much when it revised its outlook on 802.11n chips.

A much more pragmatic application of 802.11n will be as a backhaul wireless technology for aggregating 802.11g client traffic through a meshed wireless network (click on diagram to see how it will work). Now that there's technology (eg. smart antenna arrays) that can continually select the best path for Wi-Fi signals, you can effectively create dependable high-speed wires through the air to enable a reliable meshed LAN without Ethernet cables at all.

Dual-band (2.4 and 5 Ghz) 802.11n can be used to provide high-speed connections between APs and 802.11g connections to clients. But initially 802.11n nodes can be used as root APs (APs wired to the LAN but communicating wirelessly to other 802.11g nodes) while still providing some 802.11n client access as needed (for those that really want/need it).This will keep costs down (read fewer 802.11n APs) while providing a simple, easy, smooth (insert your own adjective here) migration path to 802.11n.

Just like gigabit Ethernet was used to aggregate fast Ethernet connections, 802.11n will be used to plot out the same course in the wireless world. It's a much more practical implementation of the technology that leverages the big pipe that 802.11n provides while justifying price tag it demands. 

Ruckus, the voice of reason?  You heard it here first.