Wireless Ethernet Alliance extends compatibility initiative

-- EDN, 4/13/2000

Compatibility and interoperability are two essential ingredients for mass-market acceptance of wireless products. The Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA) now has 36 members with the recent addition of 10 vendors, including AMD, Atmel, Siemens, Sony, and Z-Com. These new members join vendors such as Apple, 3Com, Cisco, Compaq, IBM, Intersil, Lucent, Nokia, and Philips, among others, that are already members. WECA's goal is to minimize end-user frustration and headaches by ensuring that the phrase "meets the standard" actually conveys tangible benefits to an unsophisticated user and to thereby encourage the use and growth of the application market.

WECA has established standards for IEEE 802.11b high-rate-wireless-LAN products, and certifies that 2.4-GHz systems from different manufacturers not only meet the specification, but also work together. (What a great idea! Do you hear that, PC and peripheral vendors?) These critical interoperability tests are conducted under WECA's aegis at Silicon Valley Networking Lab (SVNL) Inc. Companies whose products pass the tests can use the WECA logo (picture ), representing wireless fidelity, as a seal of approval in their promotions and packaging. The rigorous WECA test suite is posted and available so you can do a test run of your product before you submit it for the actual certification process to SVNL.

Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance, www.wi-fi.org.

Silicon Valley Networking Lab Inc, www.svnl.com.

—by Bill Schweber