Short for wireless fidelity and is meant to be used generically when referring of any type of 802.11 network, whether 802.11b, 802.11a, dual-band, etc. The term is promulgated by the Wi-Fi Alliance.
Any products tested and approved as "Wi-Fi Certified" (a registered
trademark) by the Wi-Fi Alliance are certified as interoperable with
each other, even if they are from different manufacturers. A user with
a "Wi-Fi Certified" product can use any brand of access point with any other brand of client hardware that also is certified. Typically, however, any Wi-Fi product using the same radio frequency (for example, 2.4GHz for 802.11b or 11g, 5GHz for 802.11a) will work with any other, even if not "Wi-Fi Certified."
Formerly, the term "Wi-Fi" was used only in place of the 2.4GHz 802.11b standard, in the same way that "Ethernet" is used in place of IEEE 802.3. The Alliance expanded the generic use of the term in an attempt to stop confusion about wireless LAN interoperability.
Also see the Wireless LAN Standards chart in the Quick Reference section of Webopedia.
Wi-Fi Wireless Fi-delity
Wi-Fi原是无线高传真的缩写，现被视为802.11无线局域网络的代名词。Wi-Fi技术规格为IEEE提出，经Wi-Fi联盟认证后，可确保不同无线产品的互通。
1996年，美国网络通讯设备大厂朗讯（Lucent）率先发起成立无线以太兼容性联盟
（Wireless Ethernet Compatibility
Alliance，WECA），着手创立无线网络协议（WLAN），发展起初发展不顺，声势远落蓝芽（Blue-tooth）之后。1999年，WECA
更名为Wi-Fi联盟，再度架构一套认证标准，提出通行业界的无线网络技术--802.11一系列规格，包括802.11.b、802.11.a、
802.11.等。
Wi-Fi作为802.11b的昵称，与以太网络作为IEEE
802.3的昵称道理一样。现阶段，经过Wi-Fi联盟兼容性测试的无线网络产品，即使制造商不同，也可互通与兼容，如PCMCIA无线网卡、USB无线
模块等。根据Wi-Fi联盟数据显示，自2000年联盟开始进行认证以来，目前约有680项产品已获得Wi-Fi认证，预估2003年底认证产品将超越千
项。
