The [IEEE] defines standards for networking.  The 802 series of standards covers Ethernet (1M, 10M, 100M, 1G and soon 10G), Token Ring, Token Bus ''and'' wireless, which is [802.11].

The original [802.11] standard defined a [MAC] layer, and three [PHY] layers: [FHSS] (frequency hopping spread spectrum) radio, [DSSS] (direct sequence spread sprectrum) radio and a diffuse infra-red layer.  All [PHY] layers worked at 1Mb, and the two radio versions supported 2Mbit (raw) operation also, both in the 2.4GHz [ISM] (Industrial, Scientific and Medical) band.

[Lucent] was a proponent of the [DSSS] version, and [Proxim] was pushing the [FHSS].  Both were selling expensive cards and [AccessPoint]s to corporate users who really wanted them. ;-)

[802.11b] is a revision of the [DSSS] version to support 5.5Mbit and 11Mbit operation as well as the older 2 and 1Mbit rates.

See also: [802.11], [802.11a] and [802.11g].