Hanover (Germany) - NETGEAR is taking advantage of this week’s CeBIT show to announce its "intent" to "launch" wireless gear that is compliant with the draft 802.11n specification "in the first half of 2006."

NETGEAR didn’t mention whether the products would be based on chipsets from Atheros, Broadcom or Marvell, all of which have announced "draft 11n" chipsets. But unless leading MIMO chipset maker Airgo Networks changes its "too early for draft 11n chipset" stance, it’s unlikely that the new gear will have Airgo chips inside. The most likely choice could be Atheros, given NETGEAR’s success with its first-generation RangeMax MIMO product, which is based on Atheros chipsets.

NETGEAR said its upcoming draft 11n line will "deliver cutting edge style" with a new form factor "specially constructed to optimize for maximum stability, speed, range, and security", and supporting data rates up to 600 Mbps.