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‘Creating the wireless protocol required much more than simply disconnecting and waiting briefly.’
The widespread use of Wi-Fi Internet has played a crucial role in shaping the modern world of consumer tech. It has become the wireless connection that bridges our mobile devices and smart home appliances, allowing us to stream content and access the global internet.
In his recently published book, Beyond Everywhere: How Wi-Fi Became the World’s Most Beloved Technology, Greg Ennis, a co-author of the proposal that served as the basis for WiFi technology, shares the fascinating journey behind this now essential technology. In the following excerpt, Ennis recounts the intense final days of pitching and presentations before successfully convincing the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN standards committee to adopt their proposed protocol. He also explores the influence of Bob Metcalf, the inventor of Ethernet and founder of 3Com, on the eventual emergence of Wi-Fi.
This excerpt is from the book Beyond Everywhere: How Wi-Fi Became the World’s Most Beloved Technology, written by Greg Ennis and published by Post Hill Press. It is used here with permission.
After finalizing our DFWMAC foundation, the IEEE committee focused on approving the actual text language for the standard. The committee worked on developing draft versions of the MAC sections of the standard document, with a key gap being the absence of an encryption scheme. At the January 1994 meeting in San Jose, I was appointed as the Technical Editor of the entire standard, a role I shared with Bob O’Hara. We continued as editors until the final standard was published in 1997.
The first draft of the MAC sections was essentially our DFWMAC specification formatted to fit the IEEE template. As we completed each draft, committee members submitted comments, leading to debates and decisions on improving the text. While there were changes made to packet formats and the development of algorithmic language for protocol operations, the conceptual framework of DFWMAC remained largely intact. Even today, nearly thirty years after its proposal, DFWMAC continues to form the foundation for Wi-Fi.
During the text-finalization process, advancements in radio communications theory and circuit design presented the possibility of achieving higher speeds beyond the 2-megabit maximum in the draft standard. Many industry companies began exploring faster speeds even before the original standard was formally adopted in 1997. Achieving speeds greater than 10 megabits, comparable to standard Ethernet, became a significant goal for the wireless LAN industry. However, it was the “horizontal” market, which focused on wireless connectivity for general-purpose computers, that drove the need for faster speeds. In contrast, the “vertical” applications, such as Symbol’s handheld barcode scanners for inventory management, did not necessarily require such high speeds.
Bob Metcalfe, known for inventing Ethernet and formulating Metcalfe’s Law, played a crucial role in the Wi-Fi story. Metcalfe co-invented Ethernet while working at PARC, but the innovations developed at PARC were commercialized by other companies rather than Xerox. In 1979, Metcalfe founded 3Com to bring Ethernet to the market. Interestingly, Metcalfe initially expressed skepticism about wireless LANs, as evident in a 1993 InfoWorld article titled “Wireless computing will flop — permanently.”
Despite Metcalfe’s doubts, 3Com, the company he founded, became a major catalyst for Wi-Fi’s development. As the premier Ethernet company with a customer base accustomed to 10-megabit speeds, 3Com’s involvement was crucial for the market. However, 3Com needed wireless speeds higher than the 2 megabits specified in the IEEE draft standard. Jeff Abramowitz, a business development expert at 3Com, approached me to navigate the company’s wireless LAN strategy.
We worked together to develop a Request for Proposal (RFP) that 3Com could send to potential partners. The RFP included technical and business requirements for a complete system of wireless LAN products, such as access points and client devices for laptops and desktops. Symbol, Lucent, Aironet, InTalk, and Harris Semiconductor were among the companies considered as potential partners. Over the next few months, we engaged intensely with these companies, building relationships that eventually led to the formation of the Wi-Fi Alliance.
Metcalfe’s skepticism about wireless LANs was proven wrong by 3Com’s decision to embrace wireless technology. Wireless Ethernet, soon to be known as Wi-Fi, surpassed its wired LAN predecessor and became a significant force in the industry.