Wireless Organizations and Certification
The Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) Alliance

The Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) Alliance is a non-profit international association formed in 1999. Wi-Fi was formed to certify interoperability of WLAN products based on the IEEE 802.11 specification. The Wi-Fi Alliance currently has 202 member companies from around the world. Over 580 products have received Wi-Fi certification since certification began in March of 2000. The goal of the Wi-Fi Alliance is to enhance the user experience through product interoperability. To ensure interoperability among brands, the Wi-Fi Alliance works with technical-standards groups like the IEEE and with companies that are developing future generations of wireless networking gear.

The Wi-Fi Alliance was originally named the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA). However, the term wireless Ethernet never became as popular as the terms WLANs and Wi-Fi. Therefore, the organization changed its name.

Wi-Fi CERTIFIED is the logo given to wireless networking equipment that passes the stringent functionality and interoperability tests administered by the Wi-Fi Alliance. Wi-Fi CERTIFIED equipment will work with any other piece of wireless networking gear that also has the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED logo.

There are also Wi-Fi ZONEs. Wi-Fi ZONEs are wireless hot spot networks that users can access when they are away from their homes or offices. Like Wi-Fi products, only service providers that meet the Wi-Fi ZONE deployment and service standards can display the logo, which is shown in Figure . Users can look for the logo to make sure that a hot spot is a Wi-Fi ZONE.

There is an online database of Wi-Fi ZONE locations from around the world on the Wi-Fi Alliance website. This is to help users locate the most convenient Wi-Fi ZONE, whether it is in a coffee shop, hotel, airport, convention center, or other public venue.


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