Wi-Fi Alliance

Wi-Fi Alliance
Wi-Fi Alliance logo
Formation 1999 (1999)
Headquarters Austin, Texas, United States
Website www.wi-fi.org
Formerly called
 Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance

Wi-Fi Alliance is a non-profit organization that promotes Wi-Fi technology and certifies Wi-Fi products for conformity to certain standards of interoperability. Not every IEEE 802.11-compliant device is submitted for certification to the Wi-Fi Alliance, sometimes because of costs associated with the certification process. The lack of the Wi-Fi logo does not necessarily imply a device is incompatible with Wi-Fi devices.

The Wi-Fi Alliance owns the Wi-Fi trademark. Manufacturers may use the trademark to brand certified products that have been tested for interoperability.

History

Early 802.11 products suffered from interoperability problems because the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) had no provision for testing equipment for compliance with its standards. In 1999, pioneers of a new, higher speed variant, endorsed the IEEE 802.11b specification to form the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA) and branded the new technology Wi-Fi.[1][2]

The group of companies included 3Com, Aironet (acquired by Cisco), Harris Semiconductor (now Intersil), Lucent (was Alcatel-Lucent, then acquired by Nokia), Nokia and Symbol Technologies (now Zebra Technologies).[3]

As key sponsors, the alliance lists Apple, Comcast, Samsung, Sony, LG, Intel, Dell, Broadcom, Cisco, Qualcomm, Motorola, Microsoft, Texas Instruments, and T-Mobile. The charter for this independent organization was to perform testing, certify interoperability of products, and to promote the technology.[4]

WECA renamed itself the Wi-Fi Alliance in 2002.[5] It is based in Austin, Texas.

Most producers of 802.11 equipment became members, and as of 2012, the Wi-Fi Alliance included over 550 member companies. Wi-Fi Alliance extended Wi-Fi beyond wireless local area network applications into point-to-point and personal area networking and enabled specific applications such as Miracast.

Wi-Fi certification

The Wi-Fi Alliance owns and controls the "Wi-Fi Certified" logo, a registered trademark, which is permitted only on equipment which has passed testing. Purchasers relying on that trademark may have greater chances of interoperation than otherwise. Testing involves not only radio and data format interoperability, but security protocols, as well as optional testing for quality of service and power management protocols.[6] Wi-Fi Certified products have to demonstrate that they can perform well in networks with other Wi-Fi Certified products, running common applications, in situations similar to those encountered in everyday use. Certification employs 3 principles:

  • Interoperability is the primary target of certification. Rigorous test cases are used to ensure that products from different equipment vendors can interoperate in a wide variety of configurations.
  • Backward compatibility has to be preserved to allow for new equipment to work with existing gear. Backward compatibility protects investments in legacy Wi-Fi products and enables users to gradually upgrade and expand their networks.
  • New certification programs allow newer technology and specifications come into the marketplace. These certification programs may be mandatory (e.g. WPA2) or optional (e.g. WMM).

The Wi-Fi Alliance definition of interoperability demands that products have to show satisfactory performance levels in typical network configurations and have to support both established and emerging applications. The Wi-Fi Alliance certification process includes three types of tests to ensure interoperability. Wi-Fi Certified products are tested for:

  • Compatibility: certified equipment has been tested for connectivity with other certified equipment . Compatibility testing has always been, and still is, the predominant component of interoperability testing, and it is the element that most people associate with "interoperability". It involves tests with multiple devices from different equipment vendors
  • Conformance: the equipment conforms to specific critical elements of the IEEE 802.11 standard. Conformance testing usually involves standalone analysis of individual products and establishes whether the equipment responds to inputs as expected and specified. For example, conformance testing is used to ensure that Wi-Fi equipment protects itself and the network when the equipment detects evidence of network attacks.
  • Performance: the equipment meets the performance levels required. Performance tests are not designed to measure and compare performance among products, but simply to verify that the product meets the minimum performance requirements. Specific performance tests results are not released by the Wi-Fi Alliance.

Certification types

The Wi-Fi Alliance provides certification testing in two levels:[7]

Mandatory:

  • Core MAC/PHY interoperability over 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, and 802.11n. (at least one)
  • Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2) security,[8] which aligns with IEEE 802.11i. WPA2 is available in two types: WPA2-Personal for consumer use, and WPA2 Enterprise, which adds EAP authentication.

Optional:

  • Tests corresponding to IEEE 802.11h and 802.11d.
  • WMM Quality of Service,[9] based upon a subset of IEEE 802.11e.
  • WMM Power Save,[10] based upon APSD within IEEE 802.11e
  • Wi-Fi Protected Setup,[11] a specification developed by the Alliance to ease the process of setting up and enabling security protections on small office and consumer Wi-Fi networks.
  • Application Specific Device (ASD), for wireless devices other than Access Point and Station which has specific application, such as DVD players, projectors, printers, etc.
  • Converged Wireless Group–Radio Frequency (CWG-RF, offered in conjunction with CTIA), to provide performance mapping of Wi-Fi and cellular radios in converged devices.
  • Passpoint/Hotspot 2.0[12]

Wi-Fi Direct

In October 2010, the Alliance began to certify Wi-Fi Direct, that allows Wi-Fi-enabled devices to communicate directly with each other by setting up ad-hoc networks, without going through a wireless access point or hotspot.[13][14] Since 2009 when it was first announced, some suggested Wi-Fi Direct might replace the need for Bluetooth on applications that do not rely on Bluetooth low energy.[15][16]

Wi-Fi Aware

Wi-Fi Aware is an interoperability certification program announced in January 2015 that enables device users, when in the range of a particular access point or another compatible device, to receive notifications of applications or services available in the proximity.[17][18] Later versions of this standard included new features such as the capability to establish a peer-to-peer data connection for file transfer.[19][19]

Fears were voiced immediately in media that it would be predominantly used for proximity marketing.[20]

Wi-Fi EasyMesh

Wi-Fi EasyMesh is a certification program for creating Wi-Fi meshes from products by different vendors,[21] similar in concept to IEEE 802.11s. It it is intended to address the problem of Wi-Fi systems that need to cover large areas where several routers serve as multiple access points, working together to form a larger/extended and unified network.[22] [23][24]

References

  1. ↑ Marlyn Kemper Littman (2002). Building Broadband Networks. CRC Press. pp. 406–407. ISBN 9781420000016.
  2. ↑ Wireless Access 2000. Information Gatekeepers. 2002. p. 111. ISBN 9781420000016.
  3. ↑ "Wi-fi Alliance: Organization". Archived from the original on September 3, 2009. Retrieved November 7, 2013.
  4. ↑ John Cox (May 28, 2001). "Effort afoot to provide wireless LAN roaming". Network World. Retrieved November 7, 2013.
  5. ↑ Eric Griffith (October 2, 2002). "WECA becomes Wi-Fi Alliance". Internet News. Retrieved November 7, 2013.
  6. ↑ "An overview of Wi-Fi Alliance certification" (PDF). Senzafiliconsulting.com. Retrieved 2017-04-01.
  7. ↑ "Insist on Wi-Fi CERTIFIED". wi-fi.org. Wi-Fi Alliance. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
  8. ↑ "WPA2 – Featured Topics from Wi-Fi Alliance". Wi-fi.org. Retrieved 2017-04-01.
  9. ↑ "WMM – Article from Wi-Fi Alliance". Wi-fi.org. Retrieved 2017-04-01.
  10. ↑ "Power save – Article from Wi-Fi Alliance". Wi-fi.org. Retrieved 2017-04-01.
  11. ↑ "WPS – Article from Wi-Fi Alliance". Wi-fi.org. Retrieved 2017-04-01.
  12. ↑ "Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Passpoint | Wi-Fi Alliance". Wi-fi.org. Retrieved 2017-04-01.
  13. ↑ "Wi-Fi gets personal: Groundbreaking Wi-Fi Direct launches today". Press release. WiFi Alliance. October 25, 2010. Retrieved November 7, 2013.
  14. ↑ "Wi-Fi Direct: what it is and why you should care". TechRadar. Retrieved 2018-08-02.
  15. ↑ Tony Bradley (October 15, 2009). "Wi-Fi Direct could be death of Bluetooth". PC World. Retrieved November 7, 2013.
  16. ↑ Olga Kharif (October 14, 2009). "Wi-Fi Is About to Get a Whole Lot Easier". Bloomberg Business Week. Retrieved November 7, 2013.
  17. ↑ "Wi-Fi Aware | Wi-Fi Alliance". Wi-fi.org. Retrieved 2017-04-01.
  18. ↑ "Wi-Fi Aware Aims To Connect All Your Devices Instantly". TechCrunch. 2015-07-14. Retrieved 2017-04-01.
  19. 1 2 Alliance, Wi-Fi. "Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Wi-Fi Aware™ enhances the Wi-Fi® mobile experience". GlobeNewswire News Room. Retrieved 2018-08-02.
  20. ↑ "Wi-Fi Alliance ushers in new era of intrusive apps". Theregister.co.uk. Retrieved 2017-04-01.
  21. ↑ "Wi-Fi EasyMesh | Wi-Fi Alliance". www.wi-fi.org. Retrieved 2018-05-17.
  22. ↑ "Wi-Fi EasyMesh | Wi-Fi Alliance". www.wi-fi.org. Retrieved 2018-08-02.
  23. ↑ Hoffman, Chris (May 16, 2018). "What is the New EasyMesh Wi-Fi Standard? (and Why It Doesn't Matter Yet)". How to Geek. Retrieved 2018-08-02.
  24. ↑ "Wi-Fi CERTIFIED EasyMesh™ delivers intelligent Wi-Fi® networks | Wi-Fi Alliance". www.wi-fi.org. Retrieved 2018-08-02.
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