Wireless LAN Interoperability Forum Publishes Open Specification Draft and Certification Program, Demonstrates Interoperability
CHICAGO — November 6, 1996 — At a press conference today, the Wireless LAN Interoperability Forum (WLI Forum), a group of more than 20 leading mobile computing product and service suppliers, announced that it has published a draft wireless LAN interface specification and interoperability test suite, and selected a test lab.
Also at the conference, the group announced the addition of several mobile computing industry leaders to its membership and showed the first multi-vendor wireless LAN interoperability demonstration between products from eight different members.
The WLI Forum interface specification was distributed to the group's membership at its Sept. 24 meeting for final review and will be formally published after the WLI Forum meeting this month. The availability of the open specification allows any independent manufacturer to develop WLI Forum-compatible products.
Also, the WLI Forum technical committee completed the test process for assessing product interoperability and provided the information to Los Angeles-based XXCal, an independent test lab. XXCal will test products using the defined process to ensure full interoperability, and products that pass the WLI Forum tests will earn the "WLI Forum Compatible" designation.
Companies interested in testing at XXCal labs in the United States or Japan can contact Joe Benardello of XXCal at 310/477-2902.
"This event signals significant progress of wireless LAN interoperability, as the WLI Forum is now delivering all the items that the group said would be available by this time," said Jeff Tingley of Data General, chairman of the WLI Forum.
"Industry support has continued to build around the Forum with several major companies implementing WLI Forum-based wireless LANs and a new round of industry leaders joining the group. The open specification and demonstration of interoperability give users a tangible look at the Forum's value."
Since its initial introduction in May 1996, additional industry leaders have joined the WLI Forum's efforts including Andrew Corp., BASS, BreezeCOM, Fujitsu, Intermec, Nomadic Technologies, and WaveNet (see complete list of members attached).
At the Scan-Tech trade show in Chicago this week, the WLI Forum is showing attendees the industry's first comprehensive wireless LAN interoperability demonstration. A wide range of mobile computing products all operating on one wireless LAN infrastructure is being shown.
The products include pen computers, bar code scanners, handheld terminals, notebook computers with PC Card adapters, serial port modems and wireless LAN access points.
IEEE 802.11
Several WLI Forum members are actively participating in the IEEE 802.11 committee to help develop and finalize that wireless LAN specification, and the Forum is currently evaluating a method and timeline for creating wireless LAN interoperability through 802.11.
In August 1996, the IEEE 802.11 subcommittee approved draft 5.0 of the 802.11 wireless LAN specification. It is now under review by the IEEE 802 committee, and the WLI Forum expects final approval of the specification in 1997. Already, WLI Forum users can purchase products that will offer coexistence between WLI Forum and future 802.11 networks.
About Membership
The WLI Forum is self-funded through membership dues and fees. The organization's membership is open to all companies that develop, manufacture or sell WLI Forum specification-compatible wireless LAN products or plan to do so. For more information about joining the WLI Forum, interested companies should contact WLI Forum secretary Brian Button of Proxim at 415/526-3691, or WLI Forum chairman Jeff Tingley of Data General at 508/898-6002.
About WLI Forum
The Wireless LAN Interoperability Forum (WLI Forum) was founded to promote the growth of the wireless LAN market by delivering interoperable products and services today at all levels of the value chain. The Forum helps achieve this mission by providing an open RF standard specification, based on proven frequency hopping spread spectrum technology, that allows independent parties to develop compatible products.
To ensure interoperability, the forum also has defined a clear method of certifying and identifying "WLI Forum-Compatible" products.
Also, a part of the group's charter is to provide a forum for evaluating wireless LAN standards efforts to determine how they may be adopted by the group as a means to deliver interoperability.
Visit the WLI Forum World Wide Web site at http://www.wlif.com.
WLI Forum Members as of Nov. 1, 1996
Alps Electric (formerly Kalidor) AMP Inc. Andrew Corp. BASS Inc. BreezeCOM Comtron Inc. Data General Corp. Fujitsu Personal Systems Inc. Intermec Corp. Kansai Electric Co. Ltd. LXE Inc. Matsushita Inter-Techno Co. Ltd. Nomadic Technologies Norand Corp. NTT-IT Proxim Inc. Raytheon Electronics Seiko Epson Corp. TimeMaster Corp. WaveNet Inc. WiSE Medical System Inc. Zenith Data Systems
Note to Editors : All products and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
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