27 companies announced on Monday that they would be joining forces to promote the next generation of wireless networking technology. The group would be known as the Enhanced Wireless Consortium and will push for the ratification of 802.11n.

802.11n promises connection speeds of up to 600 Mbps. In comparison, 802.11b maxes out at 11 Mbps, and 802.11a and 802.11ag at 54 Mbps. Supporters of the proposed standard also say it conserves battery power due to less time spent transmitting data.

The new standard will use the 2.4 and 5GHz bands much like the current technologies. 802.11n is also expected to have twice the range of the older protocols, according to the consortium.

The companies in the newly formed group stressed the importance of standards. "Our customers are demanding innovation in wireless networking to support the applications of tomorrow, and multi-vendor interoperability is just as important to them as speed, range, and security," said Mark Merrill, chief technology officer of Netgear.

Included in the Enhanced Wireless Consortium are major technology players such as Apple, Intel, Toshiba, and Lenovo, as well as networking companies Cisco, Linksys and D-Link.

According to the group, a proposal for a standard could be ready as early as early next year, will final 802.11n ratification coming in late 2006. The IEEE had originally given a time frame of sometime in 2007. Products using the technology could appear as early as the first half of 2006.

Intel had already shown in June that it could successfully add 802.11n to its current line of Centrino processors. The company said at the time it did not have a solid date for availability of the chip.

More information on the EWC can be found on its Web site, which launched on Monday.