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Research firm Gartner is warning companies to hold off on making investments in 802.11g wireless LAN technology until products can be properly certified by the nonprofit Wi-Fi Alliance.

Jumping on the 802.11g bandwagon may result in interoperability problems with other 802.11g devices, as well as with older 802.11b wireless LAN technology, Gartner says.

Like Wi-Fi devices that use the popular 802.11b standard, 802.11g wireless devices operate in the 2.4-GHz band. However, 802.11g devices support much faster data transfer rates than those using the 802.11b standard, 54 megabits per second as opposed to 11 mbps, making them better suited for enterprise network environments.

Ready for Testing

In February the Wi-Fi Alliance announced that it would begin certifying 802.11g products after the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers approved the final standard for 802.11g later this year. The Wi-Fi Alliance is in the process of developing an 802.11g interoperability test program based on the most recent draft of the standard, it says.

When finalized, Wi-Fi Alliance certification will test both mandatory and optional components of the IEEE 802.11g standard, including the ability to support the 54-mbps rate. Backward interoperability with certified 802.11b products will be tested, as will performance in mixed 802.11b/802.11g network environments, the Alliance says.

Compliant products will feature a new element on their capabilities label indicating support for the 54-mbps rate in the 2.4-GHz band, the Alliance says.

Despite the lack of a firm 802.11g standard, competition for the high-growth wireless LAN market has prompted hardware vendors to push 802.11g products to market. Those products might not meet the certification criteria for 802.11g operation when those criteria are finalized, leading to interoperability problems, especially in networks using products from more than one vendor, Gartner says.

Certified 802.11g products should be available in the fourth quarter. Until then, Gartner analysts recommend that companies stick to using certified 802.11b devices. Companies intent on purchasing uncertified 802.11g wireless devices or devices that support both standards should pay no more than they would for 802.11b devices, Gartner says.

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