Date: 22/06/2011

WBA and Wi-Fi Alliance collaborating on Wi-Fi hotspot roaming

The Wi-Fi Alliance and Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) have announced plans to collaborate in order to harmonize their programs related to Wi-Fi hotspot ease of use and roaming. WBA's inter-operator Wi-Fi roaming efforts and Wi-Fi Alliance's planned certification program for Wi-Fi equipment will be developed with close coordination between the two groups to help ensure the best user experience.

The Wi-Fi CERTIFIED hotspot certification program is designed to create the technology and testing programs necessary to allow Wi-Fi devices to easily connect at hotspots in a security-protected, interoperable fashion by streamlining network selection and access. Wi-Fi Alliance members are working to define technologies and certification requirements for both Wi-Fi infrastructure devices as well as endpoints like handsets, tablets and notebooks. The planned launch of the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED hotspot certification program is targeted for the middle of 2012, with preliminary testing activities expected to begin later this year.

The WBA's Next Generation Hotspot (NGH) program defines interoperability requirements for hotspot and 3G/4G operators. The program includes development of comprehensive operator guidelines and an ecosystem trial to facilitate migration to Next Generation Hotspots. The NGH program builds on the Wi-Fi-based inter-operator roaming and related business best practices developed by WBA. It enables business relationships among various network operators to deliver seamless Wi-Fi access and facilitate offload from licensed networks. A trial launched under the program this week between leading operators and vendors will address seamless, secure auto-authentication on multiple operator networks.

The two organizations will coordinate on testing methodologies and models, and will share information about their respective specifications and technologies to ensure that the programs are aligned. Members from the groups will also collaborate on the brand identity for hotspots implementing the solutions, enabling end users to easily identify products and hotspots based on the advanced specifications.

"Working together to harmonize these two programs helps ensure that there will be a complete solution to evolve the user experience in Wi-Fi hotspots around the world," said Edgar Figueroa, CEO of the Wi-Fi Alliance. "The Wi-Fi Alliance's work to bring streamlined access and WPA2™ security to hotspot environments is well complemented by the work in WBA to enable seamless Wi-Fi roaming."

"With the number of hotspots growing worldwide, and the increasing importance of Wi-Fi to service providers' strategies, this is a crucial time for our organizations to work together," said Shrikant Shenwai, CEO of the Wireless Broadband Alliance. "WBA's Next Generation Hotspot program aims to deliver a seamless Wi-Fi user experience across operators globally, and the cooperation with Wi-Fi Alliance will maximize the benefits of innovation for end users, manufacturers and service providers."