San Jose, CA, July 19, 2000 - The Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA) announced today that it has awarded six new Wi-Fi certifications for wireless LAN product interoperability. Several additional products will be certified throughout this year. There are now a total of 28 certified products from 13 companies including both consumer and industrial class Wi-Fi products. Product configurations now include PCI and PCMCIA interface cards, traditional and soft access points, thus further supporting the diversity of Wi-Fi interoperability. New products granted certification include:
Cisco
Cisco Aironet 340 Series PCI Card
Intersil
Intersil PRISM II® Station Card, Model HWB3163-04-Ref-Rev B5
Melco
Station Card Model# WLI-PCM-L11
Access Point Model# WLA-L11
Access Point Model# WLAR-L11
Fujitsu
Wireless LAN Card, Model No. FMV-JW181
The Wi-Fi logo serves as the "seal of interoperability" for IEEE 802.11b High Rate (HR) wireless LAN products that have successfully completed stringent interoperability testing. Wi-Fi (which stands for "wireless fidelity") certification gives consumer and business buyers assurance that wireless LAN products bearing the Wi-Fi logo? will be compatible and work together right out of the box even when manufactured by different vendors.
"We are very pleased to see a combination of new companies getting products certified, new computing platforms receiving certification for their wireless products, and companies that already have certified products obtaining additional certifications," commented WECA Marketing Committee Chairman, James Zyren. "These additional certifications underscore the unprecedented level of adoption of the Wi-Fi brand and reinforce that this is an ongoing and expanding process."
The Wi-Fi logo is significant in that it certifies interoperability between PC wireless LAN cards, devices and access points from different vendors. Such PC products include PCMCIA cards for notebooks, ISA and PCI cards for desktops and USB modules that can be used with either. This makes the buying decision easy for the consumer - any product that has a Wi-Fi logo will work out of the box with any other product that has a Wi-Fi logo. The term Wi-Fi is used in place of IEEE 802.11b HR, much like Ethernet is the term used instead of IEEE 802.3. All Wi-Fi certified products support a maximum data rate of 11 Mbps.
Products awarded the Wi-Fi logo have undergone strict, rigorous and independent testing at the Silicon Valley Networking Lab (SVNL). Testing usually takes two to four days per product to complete. Uniquely equipped to operate the Wi-Fi certification program, SVNL has built a reputation for providing objective, high-quality performance, interoperability and functional testing services. Companies with Wi-Fi certified products include:
3Com
Cisco Systems
Compaq
Enterasys Networks, A Cabletron Systems Company
Fujitsu
Intermec
Intersil
Lucent Technologies
Melco
No Wires Needed
Samsung
Symbol Technologies
Zoom Telephonics
About the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance The Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA) is a non-profit organization formed in 1999 to certify interoperability of Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11b High Rate) products and to promote Wi-Fi as the global wireless LAN standard across all market segments.
WECA has defined a test suite that defines how member products are tested to certify that they are interoperable with other vendor products. An independent test lab, The Silicon Valley Networking Lab, Inc. (www.svnl.com), conducts 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 logo on that product and its corresponding collateral material. Consumers are assured that any product bearing the Wi-Fi logo will work with other Wi-Fi products.
Membership in WECA is open to all companies who support Wi-Fi, the standard for 2.4 GHz wireless LAN products, including any manufacturer that would like to submit its Wi-Fi based product for interoperability testing. WECA now comprises over 50 members.
For more information, please visit the membership information page.
