Company type | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Industry | Computer networking |
Founded | United States (1986) |
Fate | Acquired by Cisco |
Headquarters | United States |
Parent | Cisco |
Aironet is a maker of wireless networking equipment It is a subsidiary of Cisco. It was started by ex-Marconi Wireless employees in 1986 as Telesystems SLW in Canada, right after the United States Federal Communications Commission opened up the ISM bands for spread spectrum license-free use. Telxon acquired Telesystems SLW in 1992, [1] and Aironet Wireless Communications was spun off from Telxon's RF Division in 1994. Cisco acquired Aironet in 1999.
One of its pre-acquisition direct competitors was NCR and its successors (AT&T and Lucent), who sold the WaveLAN wireless networking technology.
IEEE 802.11 is part of the IEEE 802 set of local area network (LAN) technical standards, and specifies the set of medium access control (MAC) and physical layer (PHY) protocols for implementing wireless local area network (WLAN) computer communication. The standard and amendments provide the basis for wireless network products using the Wi-Fi brand and are the world's most widely used wireless computer networking standards. IEEE 802.11 is used in most home and office networks to allow laptops, printers, smartphones, and other devices to communicate with each other and access the Internet without connecting wires. IEEE 802.11 is also a basis for vehicle-based communication networks with IEEE 802.11p.
A wireless LAN (WLAN) is a wireless computer network that links two or more devices using wireless communication to form a local area network (LAN) within a limited area such as a home, school, computer laboratory, campus, or office building. This gives users the ability to move around within the area and remain connected to the network. Through a gateway, a WLAN can also provide a connection to the wider Internet.
Wi-Fi is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio waves. These are the most widely used computer networks, used globally in home and small office networks to link devices and to provide Internet access with wireless routers and wireless access points in public places such as coffee shops, hotels, libraries, and airports.
802.11j-2004 or 802.11j is an amendment to the IEEE 802.11 standard designed specially for Japanese market. It allows wireless LAN operation in the 4.9–5.0 GHz band to conform to the Japanese rules for radio operation for indoor, outdoor and mobile applications. The amendment has been incorporated into the published IEEE 802.11-2007 standard.
IEEE 802.11n-2009, or 802.11n, is a wireless-networking standard that uses multiple antennas to increase data rates. The Wi-Fi Alliance has also retroactively labelled the technology for the standard as Wi-Fi 4. It standardized support for multiple-input multiple-output, frame aggregation, and security improvements, among other features, and can be used in the 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz frequency bands.
The Cisco Compatible Extensions (CCX) Specification describes a list of functional extensions to the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN standard to support fast roaming (CCKM) with upgraded security, reliability, and diagnostic performance. This specification is Cisco proprietary and a device manufacturer requires a Cisco license agreement in order to develop mobile devices with this technology. Currently, CCX versions 4 (CCXv4) and 5 (CCXv5) are supported.
Qualcomm Atheros is a developer of semiconductor chips for network communications, particularly wireless chipsets. The company was founded under the name T-Span Systems in 1998 by experts in signal processing and VLSI design from Stanford University, the University of California, Berkeley, and private industry. The company was renamed Atheros Communications in 2000 and it completed an initial public offering in February 2004, trading on the NASDAQ under the symbol ATHR.
WaveLAN was a brand name for a family of wireless networking technology sold by NCR, AT&T, Lucent Technologies, and Agere Systems as well as being sold by other companies under OEM agreements. The WaveLAN name debuted on the market in 1990 and was in use until 2000, when Agere Systems renamed their products to ORiNOCO. WaveLAN laid the important foundation for the formation of IEEE 802.11 working group and the resultant creation of Wi-Fi.
Fritz!Box, stylised as FRITZ!Box, is a series of residential gateway devices produced by the German company AVM GmbH. In 2010 it was estimated the series had a market share of 68% of the digital subscriber line (DSL) consumer equipment in Germany.
ARLAN is a family of both proprietary non-802.11 and 802.11-compliant wireless networking technologies developed and marketed by Aironet Wireless Communications in the 1990s prior to Aironet's acquisition by Cisco Systems. Operating in the 900 MHz and 2.4 GHz ISM bands and offering a nominal 2.0 Mbit/s throughput, the non-802.11 DSSS products competed directly with NCR's WaveLAN technology. After acquisition, the ARLAN lineup was renamed to Cisco Aironet; the non-802.11 products were supported briefly then discontinued.
802.11 non-standard equipment is equipment that seeks to extend the Wi-Fi standard 802.11, by implementing proprietary features.
IEEE 802.11 – or more correctly IEEE 802.11-1997 or IEEE 802.11-1999 – refer to the original version of the IEEE 802.11 wireless networking standard released in 1997 and clarified in 1999. Most of the protocols described by this early version are rarely used today.
IEEE 802.11b-1999 or 802.11b is an amendment to the IEEE 802.11 wireless networking specification that extends throughout up to 11 Mbit/s using the same 2.4 GHz band. A related amendment was incorporated into the IEEE 802.11-2007 standard.
IEEE 802.11g-2003 or 802.11g is an amendment to the IEEE 802.11 specification that operates in the 2.4 GHz microwave band. The standard has extended link rate to up to 54 Mbit/s using the same 20 MHz bandwidth as 802.11b uses to achieve 11 Mbit/s. This specification, under the marketing name of Wi‑Fi, has been implemented all over the world. The 802.11g protocol is now Clause 19 of the published IEEE 802.11-2007 standard, and Clause 19 of the published IEEE 802.11-2012 standard.
Firetide is an American, international provider of wireless mesh network technology. It is a division of UNICOM Global. Based in the Silicon Valley, Firetide designs and sells hardware and software for wireless technology.
Linksys manufactures a series of network routers. Many models are shipped with Linux-based firmware and can run third-party firmware. The first model to support third-party firmware was the very popular Linksys WRT54G series.
On March 30, 2010 Cisco unveiled a new series of home networking products called "Valet". The focus of this series is to simplify the installation and configuration of a typical wireless home network by shipping routers partially pre-configured and bundling with them software that aids the user in setting up their network with a step-by-step wizard.
RUCKUS Networks is a brand of wired and wireless networking equipment and software owned by CommScope. Ruckus offers switches, Wi-Fi access points, CBRS access points, controllers, management systems, cloud management, AAA/BYOD software, AI and ML analytics software, location software and IoT controller software products to mobile carriers, broadband service providers, and corporate enterprises. As a company, Ruckus invented and has patented wireless voice, video, and data technology, such as adaptive antenna arrays that extend signal range, increase data rates, and avoid interference, providing distribution of delay-sensitive content over standard 802.11 Wi-Fi.
IEEE 802.11ac-2013 or 802.11ac is a wireless networking standard in the IEEE 802.11 set of protocols, providing high-throughput wireless local area networks (WLANs) on the 5 GHz band. The standard has been retroactively labelled as Wi-Fi 5 by Wi-Fi Alliance.
Wi-Fi 6, or IEEE 802.11ax, is an IEEE standard from the Wi-Fi Alliance, for wireless networks (WLANs). It operates in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands, with an extended version, Wi-Fi 6E, that adds the 6 GHz band. It is an upgrade from Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac), with improvements for better performance in crowded places. Wi-Fi 6 covers frequencies in license-exempt bands between 1 and 7.125 GHz, including the commonly used 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, as well as the broader 6 GHz band.