Cisco, Intel Toot Their 802.11n Horns
8/26/2008 -- Cisco Systems Inc. and Intel Corp. last week touted a homegrown test which they say showcases the speed of the draft 802.11n specification.
Big deal, right? But that wasn't all; both vendors also showcased a real-world 802.11n deployment which they say conclusively demonstrates the feasibility of that technology's higher speeds.
First thing's first. Given the still-gestating status of 802.11n -- it's currently in its Draft 2.0 specification -- there's a clear sense in which Cisco's and Intel's testing validates nothing more than the performance of their *own* 802.11n implementations. That being said, 802.11n shows a great deal of promise, with real-world throughput that -- if Cisco's and Intel's tests can be believed -- is up to five times faster than today's 802.11a/b/g wireless gear.
The joint Cisco-Intel test rig achieved an average throughput of 182 megabits per second (Mbps), peaking at 195 Mbps.
That's significantly faster than existing 802.11a/b/g gear -- and 20 to 30 percent faster than competitive 802.11n implementations, the companies claim.
Cisco's and Intel's review was carried out at Intel's Oregon test facility. It tested line-of-sight, non-line-of-sight, client density, roaming and other enterprise WLAN scenarios. So much for the benchmarking: The two partners also touted real-world results from the Southeast Alabama Medical Center (SAMC), which deployed a Cisco 802.11n Draft 2.0 Unified Wireless Network and laptops outfitted with Intel WiFi link 4965AGN adapters. SAMC was able to consistently achieve 165 Mbps of throughput, according to Cisco in Intel.
So why benchmark -- particularly in the case of a draft spec technology? It's an important part of the process, Cisco and Intel officials said.
"Wireless communications is environmentally dependent. It requires appropriate testing and verification in a setting that emulates its eventual operating environment," said Ben Gibson, senior director of mobility solutions with Cisco, in a statement. "Because 802.11n-based technology is still relatively new, Cisco and Intel acknowledge the importance of performance benchmark testing aimed at validating real-world expectations between wireless LANs and client devices." --Stephen Swoyer
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