To better understand where we are today, it is important to understand how networking evolved from wired to wireless.

Ethernet has become the predominant LAN technology in the wired world. Defined by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) with the 802.3 standard, it has provided an evolving, high-speed, widely available and interoperable networking standard. Ethernet originally provided 10 megabit per second (Mbps) transfer rates evolving to include the 100Mbps transfer rates required for network backbones and bandwidth intensive applications.The open IEEE 802.3 standard resulted in a wide range of suppliers, products and price points for Ethernet users. Ethernet standards guarantee interoperability, enabling users to select products from different vendors, reasonably secure that they would work together.

The first wireless LAN technologies operated in the 900MHz band and were low speed (1-2Mbps), proprietary offerings. Despite these shortcomings, the freedom and flexibility of wireless allowed these early products to find there way into vertical markets like retail and warehousing where mobile workforces used hand-held devices for inventory management and data collection.

In 1991 realizing that in order for wireless LANs to gain broad market acceptance, to govern wireless LAN technology Aironet pushed with other wireless makers for standards.

Around 1992, wireless LAN makers began developing products operating in the unlicensed 2.4 GHz frequency band. This opened two additional vertical markets. Healthcare, with a highly mobile workforce, began using portable computers to access patient information. And as computers made there way into the classrooms, educational institutions began installing wireless networks to avoid the high cost of wiring buildings.

In June, 1997 the IEEE, the body that defined the dominant 802.3 Ethernet standard, released the 802.11 standard for wireless local area networking. IEEE 802.11 standard supports transmission in infrared light and two types of radio transmission within the unlicensed 2.4GHz frequency band: Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS) and Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS).

Article by Cisco Systems