The Wi-Fi Alliance and Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) agreed to harmonize their programs related to Wi-Fi hotspot ease of use and roaming. Specifically, the organizations will align WBA’s inter-operator Wi-Fi roaming efforts and Wi-Fi Alliance’s planned certification program for Wi-Fi equipment. 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.”http://www.wi-fi.org
