Mountain View, CA, January, 2003 - The Wi-Fi Alliance has announced the first phase of a global program to promote the availability of public access services around the world. The primary goals of the program are to create a globally recognized brand for public access services, set a minimum quality standard and to improve users’ ability to find Wi-Fi enabled locations. A new Web site for the Wi-Fi ZONE program has been established to allow qualified providers who submit their application by March 31, 2003, to sign up to the program at no cost through March 2004. The second phase of the program will be rolled out in the first quarter of 2003 and will be open to users. This phase will include a Web site designed to locate Wi-Fi ZONEs around the world.

Locations that participate in the Wi-Fi ZONE program will be allowed to display the following Wi-Fi ZONE logo, be included in Wi-Fi Alliance promotional activities and be listed on the Wi-Fi ZONE Web site at www.wi-fizone.org.

“Wi-Fi continues to grow in popularity around the world. As a result, we have received many requests to use the Wi-Fi logo as an indicator of public service availability. To meet this demand, the Wi-Fi Alliance developed the Wi-Fi ZONE logo and program,” said Dennis Eaton, Chairman of the Wi-Fi Alliance. “Although this market holds great potential, there are dozens of public access service brands around the world making it difficult for people to identify where Wi-Fi public service is available. Our goal is to provide a reliable indicator that will allow customers to identify service providers who are committed to a common standard of quality. We also expect the Wi-Fi ZONE brand to be used in conjunction with the local provider’s brand – allowing the local brand to become even better recognized. Looking down the road, we plan to increase the requirements for Wi-Fi ZONE program participation as the market matures,” continued Eaton.

The Wi-Fi Alliance is launching this program at this time because 2003 is shaping up to be a year for significant growth of the Wi-Fi public access market with the entrance of several large organizations. Adding to the growth of the market is a rapid pace of Wi-Fi product sales and the increasing percentage of laptop computers that have Wi-Fi CERTIFIED products built-in.

About the Wi-Fi Alliance

The Wi-Fi Alliance (formerly WECA) is a nonprofit organization formed in 1999 to certify interoperability of IEEE 802.11 products and to promote them as the global, wireless LAN standard across all market segments.

The Wi-Fi Alliance has instituted a test suite that defines how member products are tested to certify that they are interoperable with other Wi-Fi CERTIFIED products. These tests are conducted at an independent laboratory.

Membership in the Wi-Fi Alliance is open to all companies that support the 802.11 family of standards. The Wi-Fi Alliance now comprises over 200 members from the world’s leading companies. These companies offer over 500 Wi-Fi CERTIFIED products.