Wi-Fi Alliance
 |
Official Wi-Fi logo |
The
Wi-Fi Alliance is a
trade group that owns the
trademark to
Wi-Fi. In wireless computer networking, Wi-Fi refers to a family of related specifications (the
IEEE 802.11 group) which specify methods and techniques of
wireless local area network operation. 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 the new, higher speed IEEE 802.11b specification including
3Com, Aironet (now
Cisco),
Harris Semiconductor (now
Intersil),
Lucent (now
Agere),
Nokia and
Symbol Technologies formed the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA) and branded the new technology Wi-Fi. 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 2003, and is now based in Austin, Texas.
Today, most producers of 802.11 equipment are members, and (as at Dec 2005) the Wi-Fi Alliance has some 260 members.
The Alliance controls the
Wi-FI Certified logo which is permitted only on compliant equipment. Purchasers relying on that trademark will have greater chances of interoperation than otherwise. But, since the standards involve not only radio and data format interoperability, but
security protocols, and since there have been several releases and versions in both categories, interoperability is still not trivially achieved.
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The Wi-Fi Alliance 
