Cisco Aironet 2702i AIR-CAP2702I-E-K9 Dépliant
Codici prodotto
AIR-CAP2702I-E-K9
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3. When Is 802.11ac Happening?
. A mature Draft 3.0 was completed in May
2012, at over 300 pages. The Wi-Fi Alliance used
this draft as the basis for an initial “Wave 1” certification in
mid-2013.
IEEE continued to refine the 802.11ac amendment based on a continuous improvement process driven by industry
experts. This process created a sequence of drafts and culminated in the publication of the ratified version. It was
completed at the end of 2013.
In parallel, the Wi-Fi Alliance is expected to develop a Wave 2 certification that encompasses a wider range of
802.11ac features, such as four spatial streams, 160-MHz operation, and MU-MIMO. The launch date of this wave
is yet to be determined, as shown in
Figure 9. Timeline for 802.11ac Standardization and Certification
4. How Does 802.11ac Affect Me?
4.1 Compatibility
One issue not to worry about is compatibility.
802.11ac is carefully designed to be maximally forward and backward compatible with 802.11a/n devices. In fact,
the 802.11ac design is even simpler and more thorough than 802.11n compatibility with 802.11a devices, as
An 802.11ac device must support all the mandatory modes of 802.11a and 802.11n. So an 802.11ac AP can
communicate with 802.11a and 802.11n clients using 802.11a or 802.11n formatted packets. For this purpose it is
as if the AP were an 802.11n AP. Similarly, an 802.11ac client can communicate with an 802.11a or 802.11n AP
using 802.11a or 802.11n packets. Therefore, the emergence of 802.11ac clients will not cause issues with existing
infrastructure.