Mountain View,CA, October 3, 2002 The Wi-Fi Alliance today announced a new descriptive element of the Wi-Fi brand called the capabilities label. It will go on Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ product packaging to assist technology consumers when purchasing Wi-Fi products. The direction was also set to use the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ logo to indicate when a product passed Wi-Fi Interoperability testing for all IEEE 802.11 enhancements. This move eliminates potential confusion associated with a different brand for each enhancement.
Enhancements to the IEEE 802.11 specification have been a source of confusion in the past a virtual alphabet soup (e,f,g,h and i). The capabilities label and use of a single brand will reduce confusion and help consumers with their buying decision, said Dennis Eaton, Wi-Fi Alliance chairman. We are at a point where consumers need to see this type of information on the back of the box at their retailer, on their vendors Web site and on product literature. It is also important that we dont confuse the market by establishing several different brands for all the planned enhancements. Thats why a single brand is so important. This is a very positive step for the industry, continued Eaton.
Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ product label
The Wi-Fi certification program will also require the capabilities label on product packaging when the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ logo is used on the package and the manufacturers Web site for all Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ products. The Wi-Fi Alliance Web site will have a database of all capabilities labels. Only products that are Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ will be allowed to display the new capabilities label.
This program will go into effect immediately for Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ 802.11a and dual band (802.11a and 802.11b) products when they are available. The requirement will be mandatory for 802.11b Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ products after January 1, 2004 to allow products currently in the sales channel to be sold.
JPEG and EPS versions of the new capabilities label are available upon request by media and analysts.
See Wi-Fi at WPCExpoWi-Fi wireless LANs will be on display at WPCExpo (Booth E4502), October 16-19, in Tokyo, Japan.See Wi-Fi at COMDEX
Wi-Fi wireless LANs will be on display at COMDEX (Booth 2954), November 18-22, in Las Vegas, Nevada.About the Wi-Fi Alliance
The Wi-Fi Alliance is a nonprofit organization formed in 1999 to certify interoperability of IEEE 802.11 products and to promote them as the global, wireless LAN standard across all market segments.
The 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. These tests are conducted at an independent laboratory.
Membership in the Wi-Fi Alliance is open to all companies that support the 802.11 family of standards. The Wi-Fi Alliance now comprises over 170 members that offer over 450 Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ products from the worlds leading companies.
For more information, please visit www.wi-fi.org.
