Wi-Fi Alliance, a non-profit industry association with over 275 members worldwide has arrived in India with a Wi-Fi pre-certification lab set up at the Wipro Campus, Bangalore. Frank Hanzlik, managing director, Wi-Fi Alliance talks about his plans in India, and the roadmap ahead for Wi-Fi products

How significant is the setting up of the pre-certification lab by Wipro for Wi-Fi Alliance members in India?
We are very excited to partner with Wipro for setting up the pre-certification Lab in India. This also marks Wi-Fi Alliance's first presence in India. Many of our members rely on pre-certification testing as an important step in the quality assurance process. The Wipro lab will replicate the Wi-Fi Alliance test beds and test plans to allow for engineering feedback and more customized analysis than is permitted during formal Wi-Fi certification testing. This lab will go a long way to benefit a large number of multinational companies that are Wi-Fi Alliance members, who are based in India, especially in Bangalore.

How does this lab differ from other labs?
Besides Wipro Lab in India we have two pre-certification labs: in the US and in Taiwan. Although size-wise and function-wise the labs are similar, the three labs are distinct in nature of their affiliation.  For instance, the US-based pre-certification lab is at the University of Hampshire, where it carries out interoperability testing and has a more academic angle. The Taiwan-based one is part of the Taiwanese Government's initiative to promote technology development within that region, especially Taipei. It thus has a more government related purpose to support the ecosystem of wireless services.

The Wipro Lab in India, on the other hand, is more commercially rated than the other two as it leverages Wipro's current portfolio of testing services. Wipro's expertise and facility will be an excellent addition to our worldwide lab presence, serving global members and not just from the APAC region.

With cities like Bangalore and Pune planning to go wireless, what advice do you have for the authorities?
It is exciting to see that a lot has been happening with city wireless initiatives across the world. I would suggest that the first consideration must be to leverage benchmarking, see what others are doing. Try to understand how that may create a set of options related to the value you are trying to offer. One must identify the purpose of unwiring cities and what you are trying to accomplish. Whether it is to provide more cost effective wireless data for industry workers or services or to serve as an economic development project for certain parts of the city. It could also be to expand wireless internet broadband service. Then it is easier to leverage some of the world benchmarks. One of the key things that makes it a successful project is having a good partnership with technology companies or organizations. We have seen good examples of how cities are growing by choosing the right partners that have core competencies in wireless technologies, infrastructure planning etc.

A significant step taken by the Wi-Fi Alliance is the decision to certify pre-standard IEEE 802.11n products by next year. Can you tell us more about it?
We are extremely excited to announce our plans to certify interoperability of Wi-Fi products that include baseline features from the developing IEEE 802.11n standard in the first half of 2007. Although the standard is not expected to be ratified till 2008, we felt that pre-standard products are reaching a level of maturity and there is enough market uptake, and so, a certification program makes sense for the industry. This is the first phase in the certification program of the next generation of Wi-Fi products. A second phase brings full alignment with the ratified standard. This two-phase approach balances our longstanding commitment to standards-based technology with the current market need for product interoperability certification.

What are the next generation Wi-Fi products on the anvil?
One exciting development is the appearance of phones with Wi-Fi. All major handset manufacturers have demonstrated their commitment and are ready to ship phones with Wi-Fi. Fortunately this feature is not restricted to only smart phones, it is also extended to mainstream phones, both on high-end and mid categories. We reckon that consumer electronics development will revolve around Wi-Fi, which enhances power saving capabilities, and ensures fast connectivity and security. We are seeing Wi-Fi combined with quite a few gaming devices, cameras and video streaming devices. All gaming companies: Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft have packaged Wi-Fi as an integral part of their gaming platforms to enable networking and multiplayer gaming-getting rid of the cord. Looking at the roadmap, we are certain that data transfer at 150-600 Mbps is quite possible with Wi-Fi in the near future.

When can we expect certified Wi-Fi convergence phones?
We have certified 15 mobile phones so far, of which half are Wi-Fi phones and about half are Wi-Fi convergence phones. Top handset manufacturers like Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Philips, etc are ready with certified Wi-Fi convergence phones. So before the end of this year, we may see some of the first commercial launches of some FMC phones, perhaps by the likes of British Telecom. However, it still has a long way to go. In few cases, these phones are being offered by carriers, so they are part of a bundled solution. While in many places they are not yet an integrated package and are optional for the consumers, considered a low-key offering.

What is the Alliance working on to enhance security features for Wi-Fi enabled devices?
One of the key projects Wi-Fi Alliance is working on is a one-touch Wi-Fi security feature called Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS). This feature is designed to ease installation and activation of security features on a network to improve the home Wi-Fi user's experience. We hope this feature will change the Wi-Fi world, in a similar way as Apple has transformed MP3 players with the iPod. WPS is a common framework that will allow Wi-Fi home user to set up network security with great ease, irrespective of devices or manufacturers. We have enabled a common framework that will allow security to set up at the touch of a button for any of the Wi-Fi devices and the user doesn't have to worry about the compatibility issue. WPS automatically configures and senses the companion devices, or what kind of security level is required. We will rollout the first stage of WPS hopefully in Q4 this year.

Malovika Rao
malovikar@cybermedia.co.in