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Apple sources have confirmed today that this summer's Macworld Expo in New York City will be host to not only faster PowerMacs, iMacs, and Firewire...but also, if the company's timetables hold true, faster AirPort wireless networking hardware. Speeds are not as reliably confirmed, but are believed to be either 54Mbps or 108Mbps, depending on whether Apple is able to deliver on its dual-channel technology currently in the late stages of testing. Based on technology borrowed from all of the competing next-generation 802.11 wireless networking standards (A, G, and E respectively), the new AirPort Base Stations and Cards would sell for the same prices as today's models, while offering significantly improved range as well as the bandwidth improvements noted previously.
Problems with FCC approval and compliance with the competing 802.11 standards could hold up the actual ship date of said hardware, but given the need for Apple to be a leader in wireless networking as it has been in the past, an announcement this summer is all but certain, even if circumstances force Apple to delay beyond the MWNY keynote.
Apple sources have confirmed today that this summer's Macworld Expo in New York City will be host to not only faster PowerMacs, iMacs, and Firewire...but also, if the company's timetables hold true, faster AirPort wireless networking hardware. Speeds are not as reliably confirmed, but are believed to be either 54Mbps or 108Mbps, depending on whether Apple is able to deliver on its dual-channel technology currently in the late stages of testing. Based on technology borrowed from all of the competing next-generation 802.11 wireless networking standards (A, G, and E respectively), the new AirPort Base Stations and Cards would sell for the same prices as today's models, while offering significantly improved range as well as the bandwidth improvements noted previously.
Problems with FCC approval and compliance with the competing 802.11 standards could hold up the actual ship date of said hardware, but given the need for Apple to be a leader in wireless networking as it has been in the past, an announcement this summer is all but certain, even if circumstances force Apple to delay beyond the MWNY keynote.
