Perusing the interwebs a few weeks ago, I came across an article which informed me that Wi-Fi is 25 years old. Surprised by this, thinking it was a much newer invention, I turned to my good friend Wikipedia for some clarification. As it turns out, that Wi-Fi is 25 is sort of true.

On 9 May 1985, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the US released bands of radio spectrum for unlicensed use. While this wasn’t exactly Wi-Fi, it was the first step toward the development of the technology as we know it today.

The first Wi-Fiesque technology was developed in the Netherlands, six years after the FCC’s decision, by NCR Corporation/AT&T for use in cashier systems. The ‘father’ of Wi-Fi as we know it is Victor Hayes, an engineer at NCR, who chaired the committee which negotiated the definitions and standards of how the technology could be used beyond this.

The basics agreed (in 1997 – yes, it took that long) included a data transfer rate of two megabits per second, via either two spread-spectrum technologies, frequency hopping or direct-sequence transmission. Of course, engineers worldwide jumped on the opportunity to develop equipment to comply with the standards.  However, they met with problems due to the 400-page(!!) spec and in 1999 formed an alliance to ensure true compatibility across the market. 

One big dilemma was what to call the technology – according to Marcus-spectrum.com, 'FlankSpeed' and 'DragonFly' were contenders, but in the end Wi-Fi won.  Why?  You might answer this with ‘because it’s short for wireless fidelity of course’.  But, I’m afraid you’d be wrong.  Wi-Fi is actually a variation of hi-fi, chosen because of its association with compatibility across a variety of products. 

There is of course more to the story, but for now, I’ll leave it here, as this is probably much more than you’ll ever need (or want) to know about Wi-Fi anyway.  But, if nothing else, I’ve given you one or two good facts for the day.