Within five years, 99 per cent of universities and North America will use wireless networks, most of them adopting the IEEE 802.11n standard, according to ABI Research Inc.
The Oyster Bay, N.Y. research firm this wee released a forecast, titled There’s IEEE 802.11n Gold in Higher Education.
ABI Research found colleges and universities on tight budgets have installed 802.11n equipment to “future-proof” their networks. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers has not finalized the 802.11n standard yet, though some vendors have released pre-standard equipment.
Therefore, ABI says some university network administrators would rather buy 802.11n gear before the standard is ratified than spend money on 802.11g products, which have maximum transfer rates of 54 Megabits per second. The 802.11n standard could have throughput of up to 600 Mbps, and ABI says students will soon be buying n-compatible laptops.
In the report, ABI warns some administrators may have reservations about installing 802.11n over concerns about increased loads on their wired infrastructure.