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Chip and gear vendors cry foul as first 802.11n draft trials expose flaws
Manhasset, NY. - Vendors targeting the next-generation wireless-LAN standard went on the defensive last week after the first tests of draft IEEE 802.11n clients and routers indicated poorer-than-expected performance, a lack of interoperability and, in one case, inadequate security. The chip and equipment companies questioned the testing methods, saying they suspected preproduction systems and software versions had been used, and quoted higher performance numbers based on their own tests.
The response even included a stated suspicion of collusion between Airgo Networks Inc.the market leader in multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) chip sets, on which .11n systems will be based-and analyst Craig Mathias, principal at Farpoint Group (Ashland, Mass.). Mathias performed the initial tests at EE Times' request on equipment from Netgear Inc. and Buffalo Technology.
But the countermoves lost their punch when subsequent tests by other outlets of a Draft N (prestandard) system from | Cisco Systems division Linksys also showed underperforming implementations and exposed interference problems with legacy 802.11g networks.
Farpoint Group's independent tests of off-the-shelf draft-compliant wireless networking equipment were performed in a home environment and analyzed the capabilities of Buffalo's AirStation Nfiniti router and client, which use Broadcom Corp.'s Intensi-fi chip set, and both versions of Netgear's RangeMax Next client and router. One of the Netgear versions is based on Broadcom's Intensi-fi chip set and the other on Marvell's TopDog.
The draft-compliant equipment was then compared with two established products from Linksys: the SRX400, based on Airgo's third-generation proprietary MIMO chip set; and the IEEE 802.11g-compliant Wireless G line, based on Broadcom's 802.1Ig chips.
The performance comparisons had...