More stories are emerging of infighting in IEEE, with the boffins who are charged with creating a specification that will move 802.11-based wireless networking up to speeds of 100 Megabits per second (Mbps) or faster splitting into two opposing factions. Neither side is able to get the 75 percent super-majority needed to become the draft standard. Now the Enhanced Wireless Consortium (EWC) has emerged, trying to achieve a hybrid proposal.
It is made up of not just the four originally rumored Wi-Fi chip companies (Intel, Atheros, Broadcom and Marvell) but 27 vendors in total, including other chip makers (Conexant), equipment vendors (Cisco, Linksys, D-Link, Buffalo, Netgear, 3Com, Symbol, US Robotics), computer manufacturers (Apple, Lenovo, Sony, Toshiba) and others.
According to available news, the EWC proposal would offer Wi-Fi speeds as high as 600 Mbps. They believe that the faster the IEEE Task Group N pushes through a specification, the better for all the companies.