Austin, TX - February 11, 2008 - The Wi-Fi Alliance today announced that more than 200 products haveachieved the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ seal of approval for Wi-Fi Protected Setup. Thisprogram, launched in January 2007, helps consumer and small-business users moreeasily set up Wi-Fi networks with strong security protections. The 200-product milestone reflects wideindustry commitment to delivering the best user experience with Wi-Fitechnology.
Productscertified for Wi-Fi Protected Setup include dual-mode Wi-Fi/cellular phones,Wi-Fi-enabled printers, and more than 80 products featuring next-generationWi-Fi CERTIFIED 802.11n draft 2.0 technology. More than half of the devices are also certified for WMM® (Wi-FiMultimedia) Quality of Service, which optimizes them for voice, gaming, and multimediaapplications.
"Asconsumers increasingly demand Wi-Fi connectivity, not just in laptops, but alsoin phones and entertainment devices, it's more important than ever that it beeasy to connect and protect those devices," said Wi-Fi Alliance executivedirector Edgar Figueroa. "Wi-Fi Protected Setup reduces by half thesteps involved in setting up a Wi-Fi network, and consumers should look forWi-Fi Protected Setup icon on products bearing the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED logo."
"Because it dramatically eases the networkconfiguration process, Wi-Fi Protected Setup enables further proliferation ofWi-Fi in consumer electronics and handsets," said Kurt Scherf, vice presidentand principal analyst with Parks Associates. "We expect more and more of those devices to ship with Wi-Fi on board,and it's good to see that the industry has embraced this tool to make Wi-Fieasier for consumers to set up."
Theorganization has also launched testing support for NFC (Near-FieldCommunication) as an additional Wi-Fi Protected Setup network configurationmethod. In the NFC method, a usertouches a card or token to designated areas on an access point and a clientdevice to connect them. NFC joins two previously-tested mechanisms, push-buttonand PIN entry, to simplify the process of joining devices to a security-enabledWi-Fi network.
Like thepush-button method, the NFC technique is especially useful to connect devicesthat don't have a keyboard-oriented user interface, such as cameras, gamingdevices, and other consumer electronics. Manufacturers now have even moreflexibility in how to deploy Wi-Fi Protected Setup, ultimately giving consumersmore choice when they buy Wi-Fi CERTIFIED phones and consumer electronics.
A list ofall products Wi-Fi CERTIFIED for Wi-Fi Protected Setup, as well as a free whitepaper which describes the specification in detail, is available at www.wi-fi.org.
About the Wi-Fi Alliance
TheWi-Fi Alliance is a global, non-profit industry association of morethan 300 member companies devoted to promoting the growth of wirelessLocal Area Networks (WLANs). With the aim of enhancing the user experience forwireless portable, mobile, and home entertainment devices, the Wi-Fi Alliance'stesting and certification programs help ensure the interoperability of WLANproducts based on the IEEE 802.11 specification. Since the introduction ofthe Wi-Fi Alliance's certification program in March 2000, morethan 4,000 products have been designated as Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™,encouraging the expanded use of Wi-Fi products and services across the consumerand enterprise markets.
Media contact: Edelman for Wi-FiAlliance: Michael Diamond,michael.diamond@edelman.com, +1 650-762-2959.