IEEE 802.11 - History

History

802.11 technology has its origins in a 1985 ruling by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission that released the ISM band for unlicensed use.

In 1991 NCR Corporation/AT&T (now Alcatel-Lucent and LSI Corporation) invented the precursor to 802.11 in Nieuwegein, The Netherlands. The inventors initially intended to use the technology for cashier systems. The first wireless products were brought to the market under the name WaveLAN with raw data rates of 1 Mbit/s and 2 Mbit/s.

Vic Hayes, who held the chair of IEEE 802.11 for 10 years and has been called the "father of Wi-Fi" was involved in designing the initial 802.11b and 802.11a standards within the IEEE.

In 1999, the Wi-Fi Alliance was formed as a trade association to hold the Wi-Fi trademark under which most products are sold.

Read more about this topic:  IEEE 802.11

Famous quotes containing the word history:

    History does nothing; it does not possess immense riches, it does not fight battles. It is men, real, living, who do all this.... It is not “history” which uses men as a means of achieving—as if it were an individual person—its own ends. History is nothing but the activity of men in pursuit of their ends.
    Karl Marx (1818–1883)

    Perhaps universal history is the history of the diverse intonation of some metaphors.
    Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986)

    Philosophy of science without history of science is empty; history of science without philosophy of science is blind.
    Imre Lakatos (1922–1974)