History
Early 802.11 products suffered from interoperability problems because the IEEE has no provision for testing equipment for compliance with its standards.
In 1999, pioneers of a new, higher speed (compared to the original 802.11) spec, endorsed the IEEE 802.11b specification to form the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA) and branded the new technology Wi-Fi.
The group of companies included 3Com, Aironet (now Cisco), Harris Semiconductor (now Intersil), Lucent (now LSI Corporation), Symbol Technologies (now Motorola), and Nokia. As key sponsors, now the Alliance lists other companies, such as Apple inc. and Microsoft. The charter for this independent organization was to perform testing, certify interoperability of products, and to promote the technology.
WECA renamed itself the Wi-Fi Alliance in 2002. It is based in Austin, Texas.
Today, most producers of 802.11 equipment are members, and as of 2010, the Wi-Fi Alliance has over 375 member companies worldwide.
Read more about this topic: Wi-Fi Alliance
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The history of mankind interests us only as it exhibits a steady gain of truth and right, in the incessant conflict which it records between the material and the moral nature.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“No matter how vital experience might be while you lived it, no sooner was it ended and dead than it became as lifeless as the piles of dry dust in a school history book.”
—Ellen Glasgow (1874–1945)
“In every election in American history both parties have their clichés. The party that has the clichés that ring true wins.”
—Newt Gingrich (b. 1943)