IEEE Updates 802.11 Standard to Support 600Mb/s Wi-Fi and Approves 802.1aq Standard for Large Ethernet Networks

IEEE has recently announced a standard update for WiFi (802.11-2012) which adds support for 3.7 GHz bands, 600Mb/s throughput and mesh networking among other things, and approved 802.1aq Shortest Path Bridging standard, which will streamline the creation and management of large Local and Metropolitan Area networks by using the next-generation VLANs.

IEEE Wi-Fi 802.11-2012 Standard

IEEE 802.11-2012 is the 4th revision of the Wi-Fi standard. It has been expanded by supporting faster and more secure devices, while offering improved Quality of Service and cellular network hand-off.

Key amendments to the standard:

• IEEE 802.11n now defines MAC and PHY modifications to enable throughput up to a maximum of 600Mb/s
• Direct-link setup
• “Fast roam”
• Radio resource measurement
• Operation in the 3650-3700MHz band
• Vehicular environments, mesh networking, security, broadcast/multicast and unicast data delivery
• Interworking with external networks and network management.

IEEE 802.11 is available for purchase for $5 at the IEEE Standards Store. For more information, you can read the press release and/or visit IEEE 802.11 Working Group page. The next standard 802.11ac yet to be published will enable 1Gb/s Wi-Fi networks.

IEEE 802.1aq-2012 Standard

IEEE 802.1aq-2012 is a new standard for Local and Metropolitan Area Networks and addresses bridges and virtual bridged Local Area Networks. This standard,  also known as Shortest Path Bridging (SPB), will help to reduce the complexity of Ethernet networks while increasing their scale.

This new standard is expected to simplify the creation and management of large networks such as enterprise, carrier, and cloud networks, and is designed to eliminate human error as much as possible during network configuration. IEEE explains that the 8021aq-2012 standard “simplifies endpoint provisioning, decreases configuration burdens, reduces errors and helps enabling more dynamic deployments that are easier to use and maintain than other technologies”.

Using the IEEE’s next-generation VLAN – called a Service Interface Identifier (I-SID) – 802.1aq can support up to 16 million unique services compared to the VLAN limit of 4 thousands. The standard is already being deployed around the world, and will consolidates multiple existing functionalities, including Spanning Tree Protocol (STP), Multiple Spanning Tree Protocol (MSTP), Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (RSTP), and Multiple MAC Registration Protocol (MMRP) into in a one link state protocol.

IEEE 802.1aq is available for purchase for $5 at the IEEE Standards Store. For more information about IEEE 802.1aq, read the press release and/or visit IEEE 802.1aq-2012 page.

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