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Industry leaders join forces to certify high-speed wireless LAN compatibility in the enterprise, small office and home
August 23, 1999
3Com, Aironet, Intersil, Lucent Technologies, Nokia and Symbol Technologies Form Alliance to Certify and Promote Multi-vendor Interoperability of Wireless LAN Systems
A core group of leaders in the wireless and communications industry have united to drive the adoption of one agreed-upon standard for high-speed wireless local area networking; the IEEE 802.11 High Rate (HR) Direct Sequence (DS) standard. Products built to the new standard, use the 2.4 GHz radio band and run at 11 Mbps. Support of the deployment of such products will help ensure global, seamless, high-speed wireless connections for the enterprise, small office and home markets.
The newly formed group, Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA) - founded by six influential market makers: 3Com, Aironet, Intersil (formerly Harris Semiconductor), Lucent Technologies, Nokia and Symbol Technologies - will enable true multi-vendor interoperability by certifying that systems from different manufacturers can be used within the same wireless infrastructure.
"WECA serves as a catalyst for the widespread standardization and deployment of IEEE 802.11 HR wireless LAN products," said Phil Belanger, WECA Chairman. "As the first truly global standard to emerge, it will safeguard the investment of customers who expect multi-vendor interoperability as they build wireless LANs in an ever-evolving communications environment."
The market for high-speed wireless LAN-based voice, data and multimedia systems is expected to grow at an explosive rate over the next few years. Frost and Sullivan forecasts that manufacturers' revenue in the total worldwide wireless LAN industry will approach $884.0 million by the year 2002, this represents a total revenue growth of 113% over forecasted 1999 revenues.
"The adoption of this standard is crucial for the mass deployment of wireless LAN technologies," said Bob Egan, Research Director, Gartner Group. "The founding companies in this group have the technology, the vision and the resources to forge an environment where everyone wins - end-users, network administrators, and vendors - by using a recognized, robust standard to drive interoperability and critical mass."
"This is no small step by anyone's measure," said Angela Champness, Member, WECA Board of Directors. "We are crossing the Ethernet threshold of 10 Mbps for the first time ever in a standards-based wireless technology, while enabling office users to take their wirelessly enabled laptops home with them to seamlessly connect to their home networks."
Why WECA?
The IEEE created the specification but they do not certify equipment. Additionally, the pecification is so farsighted that many future options are permitted. Thus, WECA is establishing an industry sanctioned test lab to test and certify the interoperability of any member's products. By doing so, WECA will be able to provide customers a proven level of interoperability. WECA will grant a seal of interoperability to vendors upon successful completion of the prescribed test suites. Wireless LAN vendors building products in accordance with the IEEE 802.11 HR specification are encouraged to join WECA and to submit products for testing and the seal of interoperability. All companies supporting the IEEE 802.11 HR standard are also encouraged to join the alliance.
"We are making it easier to deploy a wireless LAN for the home or office," said Greg Ennis, Chairman, WECA Technical Committee. "Network administrators, small business owners and consumers can be assured that any product they buy with this seal not only meets exacting 802.11 performance requirements, but also works with any other product that carries the seal."
Contact information:
Laurie Armstrong
Public Relations
Nokia Wireless Business Communications
Tel +1 613 271 6756
Fax +1 613 591 7451
Todd Tornga
GCI Group
Tel +1 415 974 7288
ttornga@gcigroup.com
http://www.wirelessethernet.org
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