What is 54g™?
54g™ is Broadcom's maximum performance implementation of IEEE 802.11g wireless LAN technology. 54g™ has become the new mainstream wireless LAN standard because it is 5x faster than 802.11b, it is Wi-Fi CERTIFIED as interoperable with 802.11b, and it is affordable. Products displaying the 54g™ logo use Broadcom's 54g™ wireless LAN chipset. All are designed to be completely interoperable at maximum performance with other 54g™ products and are IEEE 802.11g compliant.

What is 802.11g?
802.11g is the new IEEE standard for high speed wireless LAN communications that provides for up to 54 Mbps data rate in the 2.4 GHz band. 802.11g is quickly becoming the next mainstream wireless LAN technology for the home, office and public networks.

802.11g defines the use of the same OFDM modulation technique specified in IEEE 802.11a for the 5 GHz frequency band and applies it in the same 2.4 GHz frequency band as IEEE 802.11b. The 802.11g standard requires backward compatibility with 802.11b.

The standard specifically calls for:

• A new physical layer for the 802.11 Medium Access Control (MAC) in the 2.4 GHz frequency band, known as the extended rate PHY (ERP). The ERP adds OFDM as a mandatory new coding scheme for 6, 12 and 24 Mbps (mandatory speeds), and 18, 36, 48 and 54 Mbps (optional speeds). The ERP includes the modulation schemes found in 802.11b including CCK for 11 and 5.5 Mbps and Barker code modulation for 2 and 1 Mbps.
• A protection mechanism called RTS/CTS that governs how 802.11g devices and 802.11b devices interoperate.

What is the difference between 802.11g and 54g™?
54g™ is the maximum performance implementation of 802.11g, with extended reach, speed and security. 54g™ is designed to enable 54 Mbps connectivity. The 802.11g draft specification makes 54 Mbps connectivity optional, and simply requires up to 24 Mbps connectivity to comply with the specification.

What is the status of the IEEE 802.11g ratification process?
The 802.11g standard was ratified on June 12, 2003.

Which market segments are most likely adopters of 802.11g?
802.11g is quickly becoming the next mainstream wireless LAN standard that will be adopted across all market segments.

Market analysts anticipate rapid adoption of 802.11g driven through retail channels to homes and small businesses, primarily because its price and performance advantages are extremely compelling.

In the enterprise, the key issues delaying wireless LAN deployment are infrastructure costs, security and debate over what the high bandwidth industry standard will be. 802.11g solves the dilemma by providing a 54 Mbps option that is low cost, long range and backward compatible for existing users. For densely populated environments that require increased capacity, an 802.11a overlay via dual-band 802.11 a/g solutions can be deployed. All 54g™ products have enhanced security that addresses enterprise security concerns.

In public access, the inherent backward compatibility of 802.11g with existing 802.11b systems and its increased range at minimal cost will drive public access networks to deploy 802.11g technology.