About sixty vendors supply more than 200 different products for WLANs. Sales are expanding rapidly as an increasing number of enterprises see the value of WLANs. Growth has been helped by the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA), which provides conformance and interoperability testing. So far, this group of more than 130 companies has granted its "Wi-Fi" label of approval to more than 185 products conforming to the 802.11b standard.
Globally, other standards bodies have also worked to standardize wireless data networking. The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) developed HyperLAN/2 for wireless LANs working at 5GHz that met regulations for working in that radio band, which is used for radar in Europe. HyperLAN/2 has not achieved the market momentum of the IEEE series.
In Japan, the Multimedia Mobile Access Communication (MMAC) Systems Promotion Council group is developing specifications for advanced types of wireless systems. However the IEEE is developing additional standards to meet Japanese regulatory guidelines, and therefore MMAC is also unlikely to meet the market momentum of the IEEE series.
Within the IEEE's 802.11 series there are several specifications, some complete and some still under development. Users need to decide which are important; manufacturers need to decide which to include in products; resellers need to select which products to support and recommend; and service providers need to decide which to deploy in services.
Summary of 802.11 standards
There are two physical layer standards: 802.11b operating in the 2.4GHz radio band and 802.11a operating in the 5GHz radio band. Products complying with 802.11b, or only 11b, shipped in volume through 2001. Products complying with 11a started to appear toward the end of 2001. A third physical layer specification, 11g, is in the final stages of being defined.
In many other countries, including those in Europe, regulators of radio spectrum block the use of 11a products operating in the 5GHz radio band.
Other 802.11 standards are being developed that extend the physical layer options, improve security, add quality of service (QOS) features or provide better interoperability. Vendors are likely to offer proprietary implementations of these features before the IEEE finalizes the standards.
7%
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