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Challenge to IEEE on WiFi's next high-speed standard, 802.11n

Despite the fact that "pre-n" WiFi devices are actually shipping, there is now little hope of seeing the 802.11n standard officially ratified this year or next - and a splinter group made up of Intel, Broadcom, Atheros, and Marvel has decided to try to short-circuit the process.

The WiFi community is at loggerheads over the technology, which promises to increase WiFi speeds, but also to make hotspots bigger, using multiple input, multiple output radio technology, MIMO. Belkin has already started shipping MIMO devices. The WiFi Alliance issued a stern warning immediately after that happened, warning that pre-empting a standard might mean losing the WiFi logo.

However, other WiFi companies have followed Belkin, with Buffalo, Linksys, Netgear, Planex, Samsung, Smartvue and SOHOware all shipping Airgo chips in MIMO-based products.

The new forum "is likely to further aggravate" the split in the community of WiFi chip makers, reports Marguerite Reardon.

A Silicon.com report summarising the division between Task Group 'n' (TGn) and World Wide Spectrum Efficiency, or WWiSE, suggests that Broadcom, formerly a member of WWiSE has now switched sides, abandoning the Airgo-led consortium.