Backgrounder

Organization Name:
Wi-Fi Alliance®

Organization Type:
Non-profit industry trade association

Wi-Fi Alliance Board Members:
Agere, Broadcom Corporation, Cisco, Conexant, Dell, Intel, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia, Philips, Sony Corporation, Symbol Technologies and Texas Instruments

Chairman:
Andrew Myles

Acting Managing Director:
Andrew Myles

Media Contact:
Michael Diamond - Edelman - +1 (650) 429-2772 - michael.diamond@edelman.com

Association Headquarters:
3925 W. Braker Lane
Austin, TX, USA 78759

URL:
www.wi-fi.org

Organization Profile

The Wi-Fi Alliance is the global organization that created the Wi-Fi brand. A nonprofit organization, the Alliance was formed in 1999 to certify interoperability of wireless Local Area Network products based on IEEE 802.11 specification. Currently Wi-Fi Alliance has more than 300 member companies from around the world, and more than 3,500 products have received Wi-Fi certification since certification began in March of 2000. The Wi-Fi Alliance's goal is to enhance the user experience through product interoperability.

Wi-Fi Alliance Mission

Wi-Fi Alliance's mission is to certify interoperability of products and services based on IEEE 802.11 technology; grow the global market for Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ products and services across all market segments, platforms and applications; and influence and help define the strategic development of technologies, standards, services and applications.

Wi-Fi Alliance Member Companies

In August 1999, Wi-Fi Alliance founding members Cisco, Conexant, Agere, Nokia and Symbol united to drive the adoption of one globally accepted standard for high-speed, wireless, local area networking: the IEEE 802.11 standard. Membership has grown to over 200 members since Wi-Fi Alliance's inception. Current Sponsor members Apple, Broadcom, Cisco, Conexant, Dell, Intel, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia, Sony Corporation and Texas Instruments have representatives on the board of directors.

Trademarks

Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ is the global seal of interoperability for IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN products. It is only granted to IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN products that have successfully completed stringent interoperability testing. The Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ logo is to be used with the registered trademark symbol, and the term "Wi-Fi" is used with the "®" registered trademark symbol in the first and most prominent use of the term.

Wi-Fi ZONE™ is the global indicator of a public Internet access 'hotspot' that uses Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ equipment. Both the Wi-Fi ZONE logo and the Wi-Fi ZONE words are to be used with the "™" symbol in the first and most prominent use of the term.

WPA™ stands for Wi-Fi Protected Access™ and is an enterprise class security solution that is a replacement for WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy). The term "WPA" is the property of the Wi-Fi Alliance and is to be used only to reference the products that pass this certification. The correct usage of the mark is the acronym "WPA" (not "Wi-Fi Protected Access"), and it is to be used with the "™" symbol in the first and most prominent use of the term. "WPA" may be further specified as "WPA� - Personal," which provides security through encryption and an individual set-up password, and "WPA� - Enterprise," which provides security through server-based verification of network users.

WPA2™ is the next-generation security standard for Wi-Fi networks that provides stronger data protection and network access control. It is based on the final ratified version of the IEEE 802.11i standard. Like the term "WPA," the correct usage is the acronym and it should be used with the "™" symbol in the first and most prominent use of the term. "WPA2" may be further specified as "WPA2™ - Personal" and "WPA2™ - Enterprise."

WMM® stands for Wi-Fi Multimedia, a term that the Wi-Fi Alliance coined to cover a set of quality of service (QoS) features that improve user experience for applications that require significant data throughput, such as audio, video and voice applications. The correct usage of the mark is the acronym "WMM," and it is to be used with the "®" symbol in the first and most prominent use of the term. It is to be used only to reference products that pass this certification. "WMM" may be further specified as "WMM® Power Save" in relation to specific aspects of the certified features.

Use of Wi-Fi in Copy

Wi-Fi should be used in all instances where copy refers to Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ wireless LAN products based on the IEEE 802.11 specification-based products or services. The mark "Wi-Fi®" is not a synonym for the phrase "IEEE 802.11" and is not intended to simply describe that standard or the products and technologies that are required to implement it. Instead, the mark "Wi-Fi" is intended to be used in association with (i) wireless LAN products that are both based on the IEEE 802.11 standards and are certified under the Wi-Fi Alliance product certification program, and with (ii) services that employ such products.

The mark must be used adjectivally, though use of the mark in a context in which accompanying noun is implicit. Examples of such acceptable usage include the following: "Wi-Fi products are now appearing everywhere in home and business networks." "The company has developed a set of wireless networks using Wi-Fi access points at its coffee shops and other public locations." "The Wi-Fi Alliance's Wi-Fi certification program was developed to ensure that wireless networking products that employ the same variant of the IEEE 802.11 high rate standard will have a high degree of compatibility and will operate well together regardless of the manufacturer."

It cannot be used when describing individual products in combination with terms that could cause confusion about the product's certification status (e.g., Wi-Fi compliant, meets the Wi-Fi specification, Wi-Fi interoperable, etc.).

Wi-Fi Certification

Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ product interoperability has laid the foundation for rapid adoption of Wi-Fi products in homes, offices and hotspots. Through comprehensive product testing, the Wi-Fi Alliance certification program assures that products from different manufacturers work with each other. Wi-Fi certification leads to a greatly improved end-user experience, higher customer satisfaction, lower product returns, reduced enterprise management costs, and the assurance of global interoperability at Wi-Fi ZONEs.

The Wi-Fi Alliance has certified more than 3,500 Wi-Fi products for interoperability since the certification program began in March 2000.

Wi-Fi Alliance has instituted a test suite that defines how member products are tested to certify that they are interoperable with other Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ products. Independent test labs in North America, Europe, Taiwan, Japan, Spain, Korea and Germany conduct the testing. When a product successfully passes the test, the company will be granted the Wi-Fi seal of interoperability and may display the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ logo on that product and its corresponding collateral material. This testing assures that products bearing the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ logo will work with each other. Products awarded the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ logo have undergone strict, rigorous testing at an independent testing laboratory. Only individual products, and not entire product families, receive certification.

Wi-Fi ZONE™

Wi-Fi is Freedom - the freedom to connect to your network or the Internet without wires wherever you are, indoors or outdoors. The Wi-Fi ZONE program allows travelers to easily identify locations that offer Wi-Fi services allowing them to stay connected while away from home or the office.

This program is free to both provider and users. The ZONE Finder and provider sign up can be found at http://wi-fi.jiwire.com/.

Membership In the Wi-Fi Alliance

Membership in Wi-Fi Alliance is open to all companies who support the Wi-Fi standard, including any member manufacturer that would like to submit its Wi-Fi enabled product for interoperability testing. Annual membership dues for Regular members are US$15,000. Click here for more information on membership. A list of the current members is located here.