Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Performance tiers and testing needed for 802.11n

802.11n has many performance dials and knobs
Network World logo

Wireless Alert

NetworkWorld.com | Wireless & Mobile Research Center | Update Your Profile


Sponsored by Belden
rule

When is the Best Time to Plan Your WLAN?
When installing or upgrading a structured cabling plant, you can achieve significant time and money savings by determining your wireless LAN (WLAN) requirements and folding them into the project right from the start. Learn more in a FREE White Paper from Belden: "Smart Planning for New Network Infrastructures."

rule

Spotlight Story
Performance tiers and testing needed for 802.11n

Joanie Wexler By Joanie Wexler
As noted last time, new types of potentially attractive, useful 802.11n products are set to emerge that the Wi-Fi Alliance is currently not equipped to test and certify. Read full story

Joanie Wexler is an independent networking technology writer/editor in Silicon Valley.

Related News:

Editor's note: We will be changing how we send out Network World newsletters over the next few weeks. To ensure future delivery of your newsletters, please add nww_newsletters@newsletters.networkworld.com to your e-mail address book or
66.186.127.216 to your white-list file. Thank you.

802.11n complications are imminent As you likely know, the current fair-haired wireless LAN version, 802.11n, is multidimensional, making product comparisons challenging. Those comparisons are likely to soon get even thornier when 1x1, single-stream 802.11n products emerge for netbooks, smartphones and even laptops. At issue: the Wi-Fi Alliance currently lacks certification programs and categories to accommodate this new breed of 802.11n product.

MIMO, antennas and streams - oh, my! 802.11n's intimidating nomenclature contains such mysterious terms as multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO), spatial streams and spatial multiplexing, which can quickly freeze a network manager's brain. What do these specs really mean in the context of a real-world 802.11n wireless networking environment?

What 802.11n tech specs mean 'We established in the last newsletter that you need multiple transmit and receive antennas working in parallel (a.k.a. "MIMO" technology) to conduct spatial multiplexing. We also learned that spatial multiplexing is a mandatory component of the 802.11n standard and is the primary means to 802.11n's increased throughput promise. (Compare Enterprise Wireless LAN products.) But what's the ultimate difference in so-called 2x2 and 2x3 architectures, if they both support two spatial streams?

How we tested the WLAN gear We assessed enterprise-grade 802.11n systems in terms of pure 802.11n throughput and latency; mixed-mode (802.11n plus both 802.11g and 802.11a clients) throughput and latency; "WiMix" traffic handling, which comprises ...

What's next for 802.11n? One of the more controversial elements of Draft 2 of the 802.11n standard is whether one should purchase products based on it today. Analysts are split on this issue.

AT&T Plans to Double 3G Speeds AT&T is doubling the download capacity of its HSPA 3G network just before a new iPhone device is expected to launch. The new speeds take AT&T's capacity from 3.6 Mbps to 7.2 Mbps for 3G devices. Called HSPA+, the tweaked network is currently in two test markets and will roll out across the country later this year, according to Telephony Online.

Are you a CCNA wireless candidate? If so, Cisco Subnet blogger Brandon Carrol has rounded up five links to resources that could prove helpful to you.

Cisco IoS Dial-Peers: 11 digit dialing Cisco Subnet blogger Dennis Hartmann continues with a dial-peer example for providers that require 11 digits to route long-distance calls.

iPhone 3.0 OS Upgrade Could Be A Rough One Mitchell Ashley, in his Converging on Microsoft blog, explains that the new iPhone OS 3.0 beta is rich with updates, upgrades and new features. But it's worth reading the proverbial fine print (a README file in this case) before any developer installs the 3.0 OS and SDK.

April giveaways galore
Cisco Subnet
and Microsoft Subnet are giving away training courses from Global Knowledge, valued at $2,995 and $3,495, and have copies of three hot books up for grabs: CCVP CIPT2 Quick Reference by Anthony Sequeira, Microsoft Voice Unified Communications by Joe Schurman and Microsoft Office 2007 On Demand by Steve Johnson. Deadline for entries April 30.

Network World on Twitter Get our tweets and stay plugged in to networking news.


Eye-catching gadgets at CTIA
10 eye-catching gadgets at CTIA From WiMAX hotspots to $2,000 cell phones, a look at what caught our attention at CTIA Wireless.

Are you an IT geezer?
Quiz: Are you an IT geezer? (and we mean that in a good way)Sure, the new generation knows Facebook, Android and Twitter. But what about ISDN, SNA and X.25? Take the quiz!

Sponsored by Belden
rule

When is the Best Time to Plan Your WLAN?
When installing or upgrading a structured cabling plant, you can achieve significant time and money savings by determining your wireless LAN (WLAN) requirements and folding them into the project right from the start. Learn more in a FREE White Paper from Belden: "Smart Planning for New Network Infrastructures."

rule

Cut Campus Network TCO by 50%.
Learn how to reduce your campus networks' TCO by up to 50% without compromising high performance, security or reliability. Juniper Networks shows you how to achieve unparalleled consistency, flexibility and efficiency for the lowest possible TCO.
Click here to register for this Live April 30 Webcast.


EMA: Refining privilege access security.
Close the security gaps in high-privilege access control and authentication by selecting the right security products for the job. This whitepaper, "Resolving the Privilege Management Paradox," details how. EMA outlines how to find products that offer strong shared access management, better control and clear visibility and multifactor authentication.
Click to download.

 

04/22/09

Today's most-read stories:

  1. Apple iPhoneys: The 4G edition
  2. The biggest loser in Oracle-Sun deal: SAP
  3. 100 Gigabit Ethernet: Bridge to Terabit Ethernet
  4. VMware vows to overhaul data center with "cloud operating system"
  5. Why the Oracle/Sun deal is bad news for Microsoft, SQL Server
  6. Buzzblog: Oracle acquires Sun in $7.4B stunner
  7. Oracle-Sun union means tough decisions on ID management
  8. Oracle agrees to buy Sun for $7.4B
  9. Sun's MySQL could thrive under Oracle ownership, analysts say
  10. Six things that could ruin Twitter (and five that won't)
  11. Honda demos motion-assistance devices


Network World on Twitter: Get our tweets and stay plugged in to networking news


Metzler: 2009 Handbook of Application Delivery
Successful IT organizations must know how to make the right application delivery decisions in these tough economic times. This handbook authored by WAN expert Jim Metzler will help guide you.
Download now



IT Buyers guide

 


This email was sent to networking.world@gmail.com

Complimentary Subscriptions Available
for newsletter subscribers. Receive 50 issues
of Network World Magazines, in print or
electronic format, free of charge, Apply here.

Terms of Service/Privacy

 

Subscription Services Update your profile
To subscribe or unsubscribe to any Network
World newsletter, change your e-mail
address or contact us, click here.

Unsubscribe

Network World, Inc., 492 Old Connecticut Path, Framingham, MA 01701
Copyright Network World, Inc., 2009

www.networkworld.com

 

 



No comments: