Mobility and management capabilities enhance experience in Wi-Fi® networks
Austin, TX, September 7, 2017 – Wi-Fi Alliance® introduces two enhancements for Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Vantage™ which elevate the user experience in dynamic, managed network environments ranging from large-scale deployments in venues, airports, and subway stations, to enterprise and service provider-managed residential networks. Wi-Fi Vantage™ devices will soon include functionality to enable quick, secure authentication and consistent, quality connections in Wi-Fi® networks. Wi-Fi Vantage bundles Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ features that deliver the greatest benefits in challenging Wi-Fi environments.
Wi-Fi Vantage delivers management and mobility capabilities to the market through two new Wi-Fi Alliance certifications – Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Agile Multiband™ and Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Optimized Connectivity™.
Wi-Fi Agile Multiband
Wi-Fi Agile Multiband is a new certification from Wi-Fi Alliance available now that allows infrastructure devices to work efficiently with mobile devices to manage network resources and efficiently respond to changing network conditions. Wi-Fi Agile Multiband provides intelligent steering by allowing devices to exchange information for the access point (AP) to guide a mobile device to a recommended band, channel, or AP. This steering capability avoids suboptimal client behavior in Wi-Fi Agile Multiband networks, such as a device remaining attached to an AP that is nearly out of range or experiencing high traffic loading. Steering capabilities maximize overall spectral efficiency by minimizing congestion and improving device connection speeds, as well as helping transition devices from Wi-Fi to cellular networks when appropriate.
Wi-Fi Agile Multiband supports fast transition, which allows devices to reauthenticate quickly with WPA2™ security when roaming within a Wi-Fi network, improving connections for latency-sensitive applications such as voice over Wi-Fi. Both service provider and consumer networks benefit from Wi-Fi Agile Multiband.
Wi-Fi Optimized Connectivity
Wi-Fi Optimized Connectivity complements Wi-Fi Agile Multiband and includes features that optimize the process of discovering Wi-Fi networks, establishing initial connectivity, and roaming between APs serving the same network or different networks. Network discovery enhancements prioritize which channels a device scans during the discovery process, assisting devices in more rapidly discovering APs. Devices can quickly pre-authenticate to a Wi-Fi network based upon environment information received automatically from access points. Wi-Fi Optimized Connectivity also reduces management frame overhead, resulting in more efficient sessions because devices spend less time sending or responding to network management traffic and more time moving user data. Certification for Wi-Fi Optimized Connectivity will be available in late 2017.
“Wi-Fi Vantage provides a better user experience with Wi-Fi devices in rapidly changing environments, such as when moving to a new gate in an airport or stepping onto a busy subway platform,” said Edgar Figueroa, president and CEO of Wi-Fi Alliance. “Wi-Fi Vantage enhances the Wi-Fi portfolio to service high-density environments at high performance levels.”
Wi-Fi Vantage addresses three key pillars – manageability, mobility, and performance – and provides a common approach to deliver these capabilities to the market. Features selected from Wi-Fi Agile Multiband, Wi-Fi Optimized Connectivity, and Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Passpoint® provide simple tools which enable service providers to better understand their network environment, allocate resources appropriately, and simply provision and authenticate devices – improving manageability of their networks. Steering and transition mechanisms provide users with a more seamless mobility experience when accessing Wi-Fi networks, roaming between different Wi-Fi networks, or transitioning from a Wi-Fi to cellular network. Higher data rates and features like MU-MIMO from Wi-Fi CERTIFIED ac deliver better performance in dense environments, and combined with enhanced manageability and mobility capabilities improve overall performance of Wi-Fi Vantage networks.
Future releases of Wi-Fi Vantage will continue to support new technologies that benefit users and operators of managed networks. For more details on Wi-Fi Vantage, visit https://www.wi-fi.org/discover-wi-fi/wi-fi-vantage.
Industry support for Wi-Fi Vantage:
“The Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Vantage program gives service providers and users a clear designator of the best-in-class Wi-Fi products that meet the most exacting requirements for performance and reliability in managed networks. The Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Agile Multiband and Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Optimized Connectivity programs included in this new release will deliver cellular-class network steering and improved network management, increased capacity, and the lower latency necessary for livestreaming and other social applications in dense scenarios. Broadcom congratulates Wi-Fi Alliance on this important step; we’re proud to partner with them on this program and are pleased to have our implementations selected for use in the Wi-Fi Agile Multiband test bed.” – Christopher Szymanski, director of product marketing for the Mobile Connectivity Products Division at Broadcom Limited.
“CableLabs is pleased to participate in building out the framework of Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Vantage with our Wi-Fi industry partners to meet users’ growing demands. We look forward to continued success as the framework is deployed more broadly to benefit cable and mobile operators, the vendor community and, most importantly, consumers.” – Mark Poletti, director of wireless at CableLabs
"Wi-Fi Vantage continues to provide the capabilities our customers are seeking as they build a great user experience in dense, managed network environments. Marvell is excited to be a part of Wi-Fi Agile Multiband, a new enhancement in the second release of Wi-Fi Vantage, which enables devices to more efficiently manage network resources and make smarter network decisions." – Mark Montierth, General Manager of the Wireless Connectivity Business unit at Marvell
“Wi-Fi Vantage brings new tools to improve the user experience in managed Wi-Fi networks. It provides a standardised approach to deliver consistency, more manageability and higher performance to Wi-Fi devices from service providers for managed home networks, airports, stadiums and other scenarios.” – Philippe Lucas, SVP Strategy, Architecture & Standardisation at Orange
“Carrier Wi-Fi is an essential tool for enhancing consumer mobility and maximizing operator networks. As a driving force behind wireless innovations that are transforming connected experiences, Qualcomm Technologies is a proud supporter of Wi-Fi Alliance’s efforts to improve the way people connect to managed Wi-Fi networks. These enhancements to the Wi-Fi Vantage program represent a significant step toward better spectral efficiency, simplicity and roaming." –Irvind Ghai, vice president, product management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.
“Efficient and manageable Wi-Fi networks are critical for an enhanced subscriber wireless experience in enterprise and service-provider environments. Wi-Fi Vantage delivers enhanced capabilities for demanding network deployments including quick network discovery and connection, network-guided client steering, and reduced management traffic overhead which together aid the delivery of superior performance in today’s dense environments.” – Steve Martin, chief technology officer of Ruckus.
About Wi-Fi Alliance®
www.wi-fi.org
Wi-Fi Alliance® is the worldwide network of companies that brings you Wi-Fi®. Members of our collaboration forum come together from across the Wi-Fi ecosystem with the shared vision to connect everyone and everything, everywhere, while providing the best possible user experience. Since 2000, Wi-Fi Alliance has certified more than 35,000 Wi-Fi products. The Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ seal of approval designates products with proven interoperability, backward compatibility, and the highest industry-standard security protections in place. Today, Wi-Fi carries more than half of the internet’s traffic in an ever-expanding variety of applications. Wi-Fi Alliance continues to drive the adoption and evolution of Wi-Fi, which billions of people rely on every day.
Media contacts:
Stephanie Burke
Highwire PR for Wi-Fi Alliance
wi-fi@highwirepr.com
+1-646-838-1190 ext. 48