Wireless LANs: Can't we just get along?
The year-old standards body, know as WECA, announced Wednesday that it has created an interoperability test that will ensure wireless hardware using the 802.11b standard for radio frequency communications is compatible.
Devices adhering to the 802.11b standard sport a bandwidth of 11Mbps, which can move close to 1MB of data per second between two PCs, according to WECA.
Products that pass the WECA test will be stamped with a WECA seal of approval, called WiFi (pronounced Y-Phi) for "wireless fidelity." The stamp, WECA hopes, will help consumers identify products that are interoperable, thus making the decision to purchase that much easier.
For consumers, WiFi certification will mean that a wide array of wireless LAN cards and base stations will be compatible straight out of the box. That means one of Apple Computer Inc.'s iBook portables equipped with its wireless LAN cards would be able to communicate with a wireless network based on hardware from Cisco's Aironet division. Or two notebook PCs with different wireless LAN cards could share files.
Today, wireless LAN cards and base stations from different vendors that use 802.11b are not able to communicate out of the box. A base station, such as Apple's Airport, connects multiple PCs using wireless LAN cards to a physical network. The test provided by WECA would require vendors to change certain device settings in order to allow the devices to communicate.
"We say this is the configuration you should ship (hardware) in the default mode," said Jim Zyren, senior manger, strategic marketing at WECA member Intersil. Intersil Corp. manufactures chips used in wireless LAN products.
PC makers such as Dell Computer Corp. and Compaq Computer Corp. have fielded their own wireless offerings. Dell, for example, offers wireless LAN cards to go with its notebook PCs. These PC makers, as well as IBM, are WECA members, meaning -- at least in theory -- that their hardware will soon be WiFi-compatible.
Other vendors can get in on the WiFi action, too. A firmware upgrade, at most, should bring existing wireless LAN cards and base stations up to spec, so that they will be compatible with other makers' devices, according to WECA. These upgrades will be offered by participating members on their own schedules.
WECA members include Cisco, 3Com, Lucent Technologies, Symbol Technologies, Nokia, Philips, Fujitsu, Sony, Siemens, Advanced Micro Devices, Samsung, Telxon and Wayport, among others.