Linksys Rolls Out High-Speed 802.11g Wireless Line

Even though the new high-speed wireless networking 802.11g standard isn't yet set in stone, Linksys Group Inc. will begin to blitz the home and small- and midsize business markets with the first 802.11g gear early next month.

The company's three Instant Wireless-G devices will reach retail in early December and will include a PC card for notebooks ($80), a wireless access point ($140), and a router ($150).

Expected to be only the first of a flood of wireless networking hardware that complies with the 802.11g standard, Linksys' Instant Wireless-G devices boast network-access speeds of up to 54 Mbps and are backward-compatible with the older, slower 11-Mbps 802.11b networks and gear.

"802.11g provides 4-1/2 times the speed" of 802.11b, says Mike Wagner, Linksys' director of marketing, in making the case for the new standard, "and for only a 10% to 15% price premium."

While users initially will pay a premium for the faster 802.11g hardware, Wagner expects that it won't take long for that premium to vanish. "It's inevitable that 802.11g will replace 802.11b in a 12-month transition," he says. Estimates are that the higher prices of Instant Wireless-G will disappear within three to six months.

With the bump in speed, Wagner says, users can extend the application of wireless networking to such at-home activities as real-time, multiplayer gaming. In the workplace, 802.11g's greater speeds mean faster access to large files such as digital images, as well as video streaming and conferencing.

Because 802.11g uses the same 2.4-GHz slice of the radio spectrum as 802.11b, hardware that complies with the newer standard will coexist peacefully with wireless networks that rely on 802.11b. Install a new Instant Wireless-G access point on a company network, for instance, and both 802.11b and 802.11g devices can use it.

Linksys' PC card, access point, and router are equipped with Broadcom Corp.'s BCM4306 baseband/MAC (media access controller) chip. Linksys and Broadcom have been working jointly since the 802.11g draft specification was revealed in September.

At first glance, it seems a bit chancy to jump into the 802.11g market before the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers formally approves the standard, a move not expected until the middle of next year. Parts of the standard could be changed at the last minute. But Wagner pooh-poohs any risk.

"I don't think it's premature to release 802.11g devices. The most recent draft of the 802.11g standard was accepted by over 75% of the committee, and at this point there can't be any substantial changes," he says. "Minor modifications, if they come, can be addressed in software or firmware updates."

Although the bulk of Linksys' sales are to the at-home consumer market, Wagner says, nearly 40% of its products end up in small and midsize businesses. "For business customers, Instant Wireless-G is the ideal solution," he says. "It lets value-added resellers educate their customers on wireless, provide them with cutting-edge technology, and along the way, solidify relationships."