After two years of negotiations, the first wireless 802.11x standard was released in 1997. The Wi-Fi Alliance, on the other hand, was subsequently established in 1999. The 802.11a standard was also approved in 1999 by IEEE as well, which served as the first industrial commercial standard.  After several years of development, wireless technology has become a common and convenient tool in our daily lives. In recent years, multimedia content has emerged as a mainstream application in internet surfing; game consoles or desk top PCs. These devices have evolved as the home multimedia center; creating the so-called digital home. Their applications require higher and wider download/upload bandwidth to meet the user demand. Thus, to accommodate this development, the industry must have a new wireless communication protocol to replace the existing 802.11a/b/g.

The Wi-Fi Alliance, which was established in 1999, is a global, non-profit organization with the goal of promoting the adoption of a single worldwide-accepted standard for high-speed wireless local area networking.  Wireless networks are employed in businesses, homes, and public hotspots.  The application of wireless networks have expanded and become much more common. Compatibility among different applications has emerged as a critical issue, which illustrates the importance of the Wi-Fi Alliance standard.  Currently, more than 250 companies have joined the Wi-Fi Alliance, and more than 2,800 applications have been approved by it.

In 2004, IEEE announced that it had formed a new 802.11 Task Group in improving the 802.11 standard for wireless local-area networks.  In 2005, two groups appeared in designing the new standard of the 802.11n. The WwiSE group (World-Wide Spectrum Efficiency), was lead by Broadcom; while the TGn Sync camp was mainly supported by Intel and Philips. After two years of development, both camps have added MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) into their respective new standard.  MIMO can allow wireless routers use multiple antennas in processing the input-output data, and at the same time increase the data transfer rate.

Although the IEEE will not confirm the final version of the 802.11n standard until early 2008, some companies can not wait any longer.  After IEEE approved the draft standard of 802.11n in early 2006, various companies such as Broadcom, Linksys, Netgear and Dlink have launched 802.11n products beginning from mid 2006 using the 802.11n draft standard.

Intel employs its Centrino brand in promoting wireless notebooks to gain a strong foothold in the market. Intel has selected 802.11n as the next generation wireless LAN standard for their latest Centrino platform, "Santa Rosa" , which will be launched in May 2007.  In the Santa Rosa platform, Kedron is the code name of the wireless module. Its transfer speed increases from 54Mbps to 300Mbps, and the data transfer range increases to 300 meters.

After 8 years of development, the data rate of the wireless router reaches up to 54Mbps (802.11g).  As the internet bandwidth remains at 10Mbps, 54Mbps is still sufficient enough. However, with the fiber-optic system and multimedia contents maturing, there is a growing demand for wider bandwidths to faster distribute/receive the contents.  802.11n increases the data rate from 54 to 540 or 600Mbps, which is capable of accommodating the market demand.  However, the wireless router is already a mature market.  Instead of new market developments, demand will mainly stem from a generation change or a replacement of older devices.  802.11n may become the final version of the Wi-Fi standard. Stimulated by the various multimedia contents; a new market demand or replacement trend may occur.

Most companies expect a replacement trend to occur when IEEE approves the final version of the 802.11n standard.  Intel plans to launch the Santa Rosa platform with 802.11n included in May, 2007.  When consumers purchase the Santa Rosa platform, they will need to have an 802.11n router to improve the high speed performance wireless environment at home or in the office. This should boost the market demand of 802.11n.

In most of the 802.11g applications, the DRAM employed in the wireless router is 4Mx16 or 8Mx16.  When the data rate reaches to 100Mbps or even higher, 16Mx16 or even 32Mx16 may become a better solution. Whether these manufacturers use DDR/DDR2 or Mobile RAM, the increased DRAM content is definitely good news to DRAM venders.