Yesterday, the IEEE approved the 802.11g standard for higher-speed wireless in the same band as 802.11b. The official announcement is available online.

And now, the fun begins. With the finalization of the standard, everybody will be upgrading their firmware and conducting compatibility tests and the magazines will finally get a chance to do legitimate interoperability and performance testing.

Meanwhile, 802.11a supporters and vendors have got to be happy that the moving target is now standing still. They will be able to take aim at 802.11g and market directly against it.

Among the companies now shipping 802.11g products are:

• Texas Instruments
• Intersil