The Wi-Fi Alliance is a non-profit organization that owns the
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio waves ...
trademark. Manufacturers may use the trademark to brand products certified for
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio waves ...
interoperability.
History
Early 802.11 products suffered from interoperability problems because the
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) had no provision for testing equipment for compliance with its standards.
In 1999, pioneers of a new, higher-speed variant endorsed the
IEEE 802.11b specification to form the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA) and branded the new technology Wi-Fi.
The group of companies included
3Com
3Com Corporation was an American digital electronics manufacturer best known for its computer network products. The company was co-founded in 1979 by Robert Metcalfe, Howard Charney and others. Bill Krause joined as President in 1981. Metcalfe e ...
, Aironet (acquired by
Cisco
Cisco Systems, Inc., commonly known as Cisco, is an American-based multinational digital communications technology conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware, ...
),
Harris Semiconductor (now
Intersil),
Lucent (was
Alcatel-Lucent
Alcatel–Lucent S.A. () was a French–American global telecommunications equipment company, headquartered in Boulogne-Billancourt, France. It was formed in 2006 by the merger of France-based Alcatel and U.S.-based Lucent, the latter being a su ...
, then acquired by
Nokia
Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, established in 1865. Nokia's main headquarters are in Espoo, Finland, i ...
),
Nokia
Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, established in 1865. Nokia's main headquarters are in Espoo, Finland, i ...
and
Symbol Technologies (now
Zebra Technologies
Zebra Technologies Corporation is an American mobile computing company specializing in technology used to sense, analyze, and act in real time. The company manufactures and sells marking, tracking, and computer printing technologies. Its product ...
).
The alliance lists
Apple
An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus '' Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancest ...
,
Comcast,
Samsung
The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...
,
Sony
, commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
,
LG,
Intel
Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 ser ...
,
Dell,
Broadcom,
Cisco
Cisco Systems, Inc., commonly known as Cisco, is an American-based multinational digital communications technology conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware, ...
,
Qualcomm,
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. () was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent public companies, Motorola ...
,
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washi ...
,
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is an American technology company headquartered in Dallas, Texas, that designs and manufactures semiconductors and various integrated circuits, which it sells to electronics designers and manufacturers globa ...
, and
T-Mobile as key sponsors. The charter for this independent organization was to perform testing, certify interoperability of products, and to promote the technology.
WECA renamed itself the ''Wi-Fi Alliance'' in 2002. It is based in
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...
.
Most producers of 802.11 equipment became members, and , the Wi-Fi Alliance included over 550 member companies. The Wi-Fi Alliance extended Wi-Fi beyond
wireless local area network applications into point-to-point and personal area networking and enabled specific applications such as
Miracast.
Wi-Fi certification
The Wi-Fi Alliance owns and controls the "Wi-Fi Certified"
logo
A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wo ...
, a registered
trademark
A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from ot ...
, which is permitted only on equipment which has passed testing. Purchasers relying on that trademark may have greater chances of interoperation than otherwise. Testing involves not only radio and data format interoperability, but
security protocols, as well as optional testing for quality of service and power management protocols. Wi-Fi Certified products have to demonstrate that they can perform well in networks with other Wi-Fi Certified products, running common applications, in situations similar to those encountered in everyday use.
Certification employs 3 principles:
* Interoperability is the primary target of certification. Rigorous test cases are used to ensure that products from different equipment vendors can interoperate in a wide variety of configurations.
* Backward compatibility has to be preserved to allow for new equipment to work with existing gear. Backward compatibility protects investments in legacy Wi-Fi products and enables users to gradually upgrade and expand their networks.
* New certification programs allow newer technology and specifications come into the marketplace. These certification programs may be mandatory (e.g.,
WPA2) or optional (e.g.,
WMM).
The Wi-Fi Alliance definition of interoperability demands that products have to show satisfactory performance levels in typical
network
Network, networking and networked may refer to:
Science and technology
* Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects
* Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks
Mathematic ...
configurations and have to support both established and emerging applications.
The Wi-Fi Alliance certification process includes three types of tests to ensure interoperability. Wi-Fi Certified products are tested for:
* Compatibility: certified equipment has been tested for connectivity with other certified equipment. Compatibility testing has always been, and still is, the predominant component of interoperability testing, and it is the element that most people associate with "interoperability". It involves tests with multiple devices from different equipment vendors.
* Conformance: the equipment conforms to specific critical elements of the
IEEE
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operati ...
802.11 standard.
Conformance testing usually involves standalone analysis of individual products and establishes whether the equipment responds to inputs as expected and specified. For example, conformance testing is used to ensure that Wi-Fi equipment protects itself and the network when the equipment detects evidence of network attacks.
* Performance: the equipment meets the performance levels required. Performance tests are not designed to measure and compare performance among products, but simply to verify that the product meets the minimum performance requirements. Specific performance tests results are not released by the Wi-Fi Alliance.
Certification types
The Wi-Fi Alliance provides certification testing in two levels:
Mandatory:
* Core MAC/PHY interoperability over
802.11a,
802.11b,
802.11g, and
802.11n (at least one).
* Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2) security, which aligns with IEEE 802.11i. WPA2 is available in two types: WPA2-Personal for consumer use, and WPA2 Enterprise, which adds EAP authentication.
Optional:
* Tests corresponding to IEEE 802.11h and 802.11d.
*
WMM Quality of Service, based upon a subset of IEEE 802.11e.
* WMM Power Save, based upon APSD within IEEE 802.11e
*
Wi-Fi Protected Setup, a specification developed by the Alliance to ease the process of setting up and enabling security protections on small office and consumer Wi-Fi networks.
* Application Specific Device (ASD), for wireless devices other than Access Point and Station which has specific application, such as DVD players, projectors, printers, etc.
* Converged Wireless Group–Radio Frequency (CWG-RF, offered in conjunction with CTIA), to provide performance mapping of Wi-Fi and cellular radios in converged devices.
* Passpoint/Hotspot 2.0
Certification programs
There are a number of certification programs by Wi-Fi alliance:
2.4/5/6GHz Wi-Fi
The 802.11 protocols are IEEE standards, identified as 802.11b, 11g, 11n, 11ac, etc. In 2018 The Wi-Fi Alliance created the simpler generation labels Wi-Fi 4 - 6 beginning with Wi-Fi 5, retroactively added Wi-Fi 4 and later added Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E. Wi-Fi 5 had Wave 1 and Wave 2 phases. Wi-Fi 6E extends the 2.4/5 GHz range to 6 GHz, where licensed. Listed in historical and capacity order. See the individual 802.11 articles for version details or
802.11 for a composite summary.
*: Wi-Fi 0, 1, 2, 3 are common usage, not an official branded Wi-Fi Alliance generation numbering.
WiGig
WiGig
WiGig, alternatively known as 60 GHz Wi-Fi, refers to a set of 60 GHz wireless network protocols. It includes the current IEEE 802.11ad standard and also the IEEE 802.11ay standard.
The WiGig specification allows devices to communicate wi ...
refers to 60 GHz wireless local area network connection. It was initially announced in 2013 by
Wireless Gigabit Alliance
The Wireless Gigabit Alliance (WiGig Alliance) was a trade association that developed and promoted the adoption of multi-gigabit per second speed wireless communications technology "WiGig" operating over the unlicensed 60 GHz frequency band. Th ...
, and was adopted by the Wi-Fi Alliance in 2013. They started certifying in 2016. The first version of WiGig is
IEEE 802.11ad
IEEE 802.11ad is an amendment to the IEEE 802.11 wireless networking standard, developed to provide a Multiple Gigabit Wireless System (MGWS) standard at 60 GHz frequency, and is a networking standard for WiGig networks. Because it uses the ...
, and a newer version
IEEE 802.11ay
IEEE 802.11ay, ''Enhanced Throughput for Operation in License-exempt Bands above 45 GHz'', is a follow-up to IEEE 802.11ad WiGig standard which quadruples the bandwidth and adds MIMO up to 8 streams. Development started in 2015 and the final standa ...
was released in 2021.
Wi-Fi Direct
In October 2010, the Alliance began to certify
Wi-Fi Direct
Wi-Fi Direct (formerly Wi-Fi Peer-to-Peer) is a Wi-Fi standard for peer-to-peer wireless connections that allows two devices to establish a direct Wi-Fi connection without an intermediary wireless access point, router, or Internet connection. W ...
, that allows Wi-Fi-enabled devices to communicate directly with each other by setting up ad-hoc networks, without going through a
wireless access point or hotspot. Since 2009 when it was first announced, some suggested Wi-Fi Direct might replace the need for
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is limi ...
on applications that do not rely on Bluetooth low energy.
WPA
Wi-Fi Protected Access is a security mechanism based on IEEE 802.11i amendment to the standard that the Wi-Fi Alliance started to certify from the year of 2003.
IBSS with Wi-Fi Protected Setup
IBSS with Wi-Fi Protected Setup would enable the creation of
ad hoc network An ad hoc network refers to technologies that allow network communications on an ad hoc basis. Associated technologies include:
*Wireless ad hoc network
*Mobile ad hoc network
* Vehicular ad hoc network
** Intelligent vehicular ad hoc network
* Prot ...
between devices directly without central access point.
Wi-Fi Passpoint
Wi-Fi Passpoint, alternatively known as
Hotspot 2.0, is a solution for enabling inter-carrier roaming. It utilizes
IEEE 802.11u.
Wi-Fi Easy Connect
Wi-Fi Easy Connect is a protocol that would enable easily establishing connections via
QR code
A QR code (an initialism for quick response code) is a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional barcode) invented in 1994 by the Japanese company Denso Wave. A barcode is a machine-readable optical label that can contain information about t ...
.
WPS
Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) is a network security standard to simply create a secure
wireless home network, created and introduced by Wi-Fi Alliance in 2006.
Miracast
Miracast, introduced in 2012, is a standard for wireless display connections from devices such as laptops, tablets, or smartphones. Its goal is to replace cables connecting from the device to the display.
Wi-Fi Aware
Wi-Fi Aware is an interoperability certification program announced in January 2015 that enables device users, when in the range of a particular access point or another compatible device, to receive notifications of applications or services available in the proximity. Later versions of this standard included new features such as the capability to establish a peer-to-peer data connection for file transfer.
Fears were voiced immediately in media that it would be predominantly used for
proximity marketing.
Wi-Fi Location
Wi-Fi Location is a type of
Wi-Fi positioning system, and the certification could help providing accuracy to in-door positioning.
TDLS
TDLS, or Tunneled Direct Link Setup, is "a seamless way to stream media and other data faster between devices already on the same Wi-Fi network" based on
IEEE 802.11z and added to Wi-Fi Alliance certification program in 2012. Devices using it communicate directly with one another, without involving the wireless network's router.
Wi-Fi Agile Multiband
The certification of Wi-Fi Agile Multiband indicate devices can automatically connect and maintain connection in the most suitable way. It covers the
IEEE 802.11k standard about access point information report, the
IEEE 802.11v standard that enable exchanging information about state of network,
IEEE 802.11u standard about additional information of a Wi-Fi network,
IEEE 802.11r about fast transition roaming between different access points, as well as other technologies specified by Wi-Fi alliance.
Wi-Fi EasyMesh
Wi-Fi EasyMesh is a certification program based on its Multi-Access Point specification for creating Wi-Fi meshes from products by different vendors, based on
IEEE 1905.1. It is intended to address the problem of Wi-Fi systems that need to cover large areas where several routers serve as multiple access points, working together to form a larger/extended and unified network.
Wi-Fi Vantage
Formerly known as Carrier Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Vantage is a certification program for operators to maintain and manage quality Wi-Fi connections in high usage environment. It includes a number of certification, such as Wi-Fi certified ac (as in 802.11ac), Passpoint, Agile Multiband, and Optimized Connectivity.
WMM
Wi-Fi Multimedia (WMM) or known as
Wireless Multimedia Extensions
Wireless Multimedia Extensions (WME), also known as Wi-Fi Multimedia (WMM), is a Wi-Fi Alliance interoperability certification, based on the IEEE 802.11e standard. It provides basic Quality of service (QoS) features to IEEE 802.11 networks. WMM p ...
is a Wi-Fi Alliance interoperability certification based on the
IEEE 802.11e standard. It provides basic
quality of service (QoS) features to
IEEE 802.11 networks.
Wi-Fi Home Design
Wi-Fi Home Design is a set of guidelines released by Wi-Fi alliance for inclusion of wireless network in home design.
Wi-Fi HaLow
Wi-Fi HaLow is a standard for low-power wide-area (LPWA) connection standard using sub-1 GHz spectrum for
IoT
The Internet of things (IoT) describes physical objects (or groups of such objects) with sensors, processing ability, software and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet or other comm ...
devices. It is based on
.
References
External links
*{{Official website
Organizations based in Austin, Texas
Organizations established in 1999
Wi-Fi
1999 establishments in the United States