IEEE 802.11n Working Group Rejects First Draft

You know the flurry of new Wi-Fi gear based on draft 1 of the IEEE's 802.11n standard for superfast wireless networking? It's back to the drawing board for the draft following today's announcement of results of a letter ballot in which it failed to muster the 75 percent approval needed to move along in the ratification process.

What does that mean about the products? Not much that we didn't already know (read my analysis piece on this subject). Vendors have not guaranteed upgradability of these products to the eventual standard, and the failure of the draft to win approval only confirms that it's still very much a work in progress.

As for the standards process, the letter ballot results mean the proposal will have to be reformulated to address comments about its inadequacies.