Most commercial wireless networking products conform to the 802.11b, 802.11a, 802.11g and 802.11n standards, collectively known as Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi). Wi-Fi has been accepted in businesses, schools, government and homes as an alternative to wired LANs. The 802,11 standards have similarities to the 802.3 Ethernet standard, but they must also deal with range limitations, unreliable media and dynamic topologies.

Bruce Himebauch will present a history of the 802.11 standards family, the 802.11n Task Group N (TGn) and the issues surrounding implementation of 802.11 products. He will also describe the driving forces behind the creation of each new standard, including regulations, bandwidth issues, popularity and cost.

Bruce has worked on a variety of communication technologies including Binary Synchronous Communications Protocols, System Network Architecture/Synchronous Data Link Control protocols, and 802.11x.