Wifi Alliance Starts 802.11ac Certification

The Wifi Alliance starts certification of 802.11ac products with the Wifi Certified 11ac program-- with hopes of bringing networking products with higher data rates, greater capacity and reduced latency to market in the near future. 

wifi certified802.11ac wifi operates on the 5GHz band. Most wifi certified products are also dual-band (operating on either 2.4 or 5GHz bands), providing networks with double capacity as the 5GHz band finds use for high-performance applications and 2.4GHz for basic needs. 

ABI Research forecasts 2014 dual-band wifi chipset shipments will reach 1.5 billion units. 

"Consumers have an insatiable appetite for rich, connected experiences," the Alliance says. "Wifi Certified ac advances the ability of wifi to satisfy that appetite by increasing capacity and improving performance, thus paving the way for new products and services that provide a great user experience."

Wifi Alliance certification ensures products meet all 802.11x standard requirements and provides a designation of interoperability. 

Among the first Wifi-certified products include Broadcom and Realtek chipsets and devices from Cisco and Samsung. Certified 802.11ac networking gear, mobile devices, tablets, laptops and CE should be available by H2 2013, with enterprise products to follow.

Go Wifi Certified ac Takes Wifi Performance to New Heights