Symbol Technologies and Telxon were operating radio networks in the 2.4 GHz ISM bands. IEEE 802.11 was not yet ratified, so Symbol and Telxon were free to define competing standards of communication at this frequency band. Symbol settled on frequency hopping as the most robust, agile and interference-tolerant approach to data communications while Telxon selected direct sequence technology which they felt afforded higher transfer speeds with adequate interference immunity.
Symbol Technologies and Telxon were operating radio networks in the 2.4 GHz ISM bands before IEEE 802.11 was ratified. This gave them the freedom to develop their own competing communication standards for this frequency band. Symbol opted for frequency hopping, which they believed offered greater robustness, agility, and resistance to interference, while Telxon chose direct sequence technology, which they felt provided higher data transfer speeds with good immunity against interference.