Digital Trends

After years of developing and refining the newest Wi-Fi standard, the first ready-to-buy products are here.

The wait for the first 802.11n draft 2.0 products is over. D-Link announced Friday that it was the first company to have its products certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance, which controls standards for wireless networking.

The D-Link Extreme N Router and Xtreme N Notebook Adapter were the first products to get the stamp of approval from the Alliance, although many other competing products are in the chute to follow. Both products are based on Atheros' XSPAN WLAN technology.

“Introducing the next stage of this important technology with the 2.0 draft compliance, along with passing the Wi-Fi Alliance's rigorous certification process, validates the efforts that D-Link has invested in its products to meet the 802.11n specification in terms of reliability, security and interoperability,” said AJ Wang, D-Link’s chief technical officer, in a statement.

The new wireless standard’s main advantages are increased range and data transfer rates. Since few Internet connections can actually hit the upper limits of data transfer on other Wi-Fi standards, the main uses for 802.11n might be streaming HD video over a home network or transferring large files. Multiple gamers sharing the same connection to play online could also potentially benefit from the boost in bandwidth.