History, Goals, and Mission

Founded in 1994 the Wireless Communications Alliance (WCA) is a non-profit business league dedicated to providing Education, Connection, and Community for companies, organizations, and individuals involved with wireless technologies.

The goals of the WCA follow the Joint Venture Silicon Valley model:

• Promote education, networking, and exchange of non-proprietary information
  
• Work to increase awareness of Silicon Valley's vast wireless capabilities
  
• Appeal to a broad spectrum of companies ranging from multinational corporations to start-ups.
  

There are no membership requirements and the only cost is a small admission fee (typically $10 - $20) per event to defray expenses. The WCA is led by an all-volunteer board of directors.

The WCA traces its beginning to a Partnering Workshop in May 1993. The event was co-sponsored by the Silicon Valley Defense/Space Consortium, the Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network, and the City of San Jose and wireless communications was featured as one of six technology focus areas. Interest was shown in developing a regional wireless association and a formation meeting was held the following month at HP Labs. The WCA was incorporated in California in April, 1994.

Events have been held on a regular basis since July 1993; each dealing with an aspect of wireless communications. A list of speakers/panelists and a description of their presentations can be found on this web site. Many speakers have graciously donated a copy of their slides, these are available for download in the archive section. It's worth noting that the WCA's presentation archive regularly receives a large amount of traffic from a worldwide audience of professionals and academicians.

Topics cover the spectrum of wireless interests including technical and market aspects of wireless LANS, cellular and PCS service, paging, wireless local loop, satellite services, GPS, telemetry, packet radio, compliance testing, amateur radio, and semiconductors used in wireless applications. Presentations are also made on regulatory issues and the progress of deliberations on wireless standards. This latter information is particularly helpful to smaller companies that don't have representation on standards bodies or a mechanism for tracking the Federal Communications Commission activities.

The WCA serves hundreds of companies, organizations, and academic research groups and reaches an audience of over 4,000 people via our direct marketing and social networking channels. Representation in the audience is well-balanced between engineering, management, and marketing interest. Speakers often find themselves fielding challenging questions from a technically astute audience. It is particularly satisfying to the leadership of the WCA to see the high intensity of networking that follows each event.

The WCA offer several venues ranging from our CenterStage events to our Special Interest Groups. Refer to the WCA calendar for specific dates and details.

For additional information, contact the WCA at (888) 351-6701.