Intel Says, "Standards, Schmandards", Goes for 802.11n

Intel’s yet-to-be-released Centrino Pro chipset (AKA “Santa Rosa”) is set to feature the draft 802.11n version of WiFi, even though it’s not an official standard. This puts Intel in good company with its partner Apple, who’s been using this strategy for a couple months now.

Draft 802.11n is the likely successor to the current popular 802.11 WiFi standards, a and g, but is still in its non-official state. If (or, indeed, when) the IEEE votes the current draft as the standard, then those with the chipsets set to this draft (like Intel’s, here) wouldn’t have to do anything: they’re in. However if changes are made before the final vote of Working Group 11, then a firmware update would be likely for those who buy now to work with the standard, which should be finalized in about a year.

We see this as a trend, and thusly it should be watched, packaged, marketed, and then, of course, put on lunch boxes.

Intel Centrino to Feature 802.11n Wireless [Laptoping]