Catch the new wave in wireless networking: 802.11nIf you think wireless networking technologies, such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, have changed the face of networking, we have news for you: you ain't seen nothing yet. Routers are reshaping networks, and this technological revolution has only just begun. The 802.11g standard is overtaking its predecessor, 802.11b, and already plans are being made to introduce a new extension to the 802.11 spec that will increase the reliability, the security, and the speed of wireless networking. Here are some things to consider when planning the future of your Wi-Fi network.
So how does MIMO work? There's still some debate, mostly vendor infighting, about what actually qualifies as MIMO, but basically this technology uses multiple antennas to maximize throughput in a range of indoor environments. Until recently, indoor environments have a posed a serious challenge for wireless networks. Reflections off of metal furniture or construction materials in homes and offices often lead to what radio engineers call a multipath scenario, a situation in which multiple transmission paths of the same data in a wireless broadcast begin to interfere with each other, degrading network performance and shrinking the coverage area of your network. Other sources of interference, such as cordless phones, microwave ovens, baby monitors, and neighboring networks, also pose problems for standards-based Wi-Fi gear and leave your network with poor range or even intermittent loss of connectivity. MIMO aims to change all that by using multipath to its advantage. The smart antennas on a MIMO router can hand off reception and transmission dynamically to each other, adjusting for the clearest data path on the fly. This increases both range and throughput at any given distance in an indoor setting, especially in multipath or interference-prone environments.
How does MIMO relate to 802.11n? Unfortunately, what you currently stand to gain with so-called MIMO gear comes at the cost of poor interoperability across vendors and no guarantee of full forward compatibility with the 802.11n gear of the future. For example, connect a MIMO-enhanced Netgear RangeMax router with a MIMO-enhanced Belkin PC Card adapter, and you'll lose the performance boosts each product offers when paired with their vendor-specific counterparts, respectively the Netgear and the Belkin Pre-N router. Because these products are based on proprietary solutions, not a ratified standard, mixing and matching gear across vendors typically results in degraded performance. Also, when 802.11n becomes a reality, today's Pre-N/MIMO solutions probably won't be fully interoperable with gear based on the ratified spec. For this reason, it's often better to wait on a ratified standard than to start building your network with nonstandard gear. Scalability and interoperability problems can come back to haunt you down the road when you start adding newer standard-compliant equipment. Still, today's MIMO-enhanced gear shows us what we can expect from Wi-Fi in the not too distant future. With fast speeds, long range, and strong resistance to interference, 802.11n gear may finally deliver on the promise of home entertainment networking.
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