Dell ships pre-standard 802.11n cards

PC giant Dell is offering its US customers wireless LAN cards based on the unfinished 802.11n spec

Dell is shipping 802.11n draft wireless LAN cards in the US for its XPS and Inspiron laptops, even though the technology has yet to be ratified.

Despite Dell’s endorsement, Greg Raleigh, CEO of Airgo Networks, said firms should wait until the Wi-Fi Alliance certifies interoperability between vendors’ products, though some vendors predict only a firmware update will be needed to upgrade kit from the draft to the ratified standard.

Analyst firm Gartner also warned enterprises to stick with 802.11a/b/g hardware until the final ratification of the 802.11n specification in 2007.

However, the promise of data transfer rates close to 300Mbit/s has pushed vendors such as D-Link, Netgear and Dell to support early rollouts of the new wireless technology.