Articles

What is the Wi-Fi Alliance?

Wi-Fi Alliance is the global Wi-Fi® organization that created the Wi-Fi brand. A nonprofit organization, Wi-Fi Alliance was formed in 1999 to certify interoperability of wireless Local Area Network (LAN) products based on IEEE 802.11 specification. Currently Wi-Fi Alliance has more than 500 member companies from around the world, and more than 15,000 products have been certified since certification began in March of 2000.

What is the Wi-Fi Alliance Mission?

Wi-Fi Alliance's mission is to:

• Provide a highly-effective collaboration forum
• Grow the Wi-Fi industry
• Lead industry growth with new technology specifications and programs
• Support industry-agreed standards
• Deliver great product connectivity through testing and certification

How did the Wi-Fi Alliance come to exist?

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 more than 500 members since Wi-Fi Alliance's inception.

What does it mean for a product to be Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™?

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. 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.

How and where are products certified?

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. Wi-Fi Alliance has 17 independent test labs worlwide that conduct 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. 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.

Who can become a member of 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-based product for interoperability testing. Annual membership dues are US $15,000.