iPass aims to make Wi-Fi offload a painless process
New Open Mobile Exchange supports authentication, payments and hand-off between cellular and Wi-Fi networks
Published: 6 July, 2011
READ MORE: iPass | Hotspot | Wi-Fi
Operators are increasingly making Wi-Fi offload a centrepiece of their strategies to handle the mobile data explosion, and that requires more sophisticated technology than just dual-mode handsets and hotspots. Metro Wi-Fi equipment makers like BelAir and Ruckus Wireless are creating long range WLan systems specifically for carrier offload, but the user experience can remain cumbersome. To encourage users to connect to Wi-Fi even when they are on the move, seamless hand-off and automatic authentication is needed - and suppliers like iPass are stepping into the breach even before the Wi-Fi Alliance supports such features in standards next year.
iPass - best known for its mobile broadband access and aggregation services - has created a system for cellcos called the Open Mobile Exchange (iPass OMX), which integrates Wi-Fi with 3G and 4G via an authentication and transaction settlements layer between different networks and WLans. Carriers can then track and charge users who roam onto license exempt systems in the same way as on 3G.
iPass OMX has already been adopted by Deutsche Telekom as part of its Wi-Fi Mobilize service, announced last month. This is a network services exchange for in-country and international roaming with DT's carrier partners. iPass said its new offering "enables service providers to merge Wi-Fi with 3G and 4G networks, and resell their own Wi-Fi networks to other operators within the exchange -- expediting the process of bilateral network connectivity, increasing speed to market and avoiding expensive build-outs RAN and core networks."
Next year will see the start of the Wi-Fi Alliance Hotspot certification program, announced in March, which will be based on a set of seamless roaming and authentication standards. The Program will address automatic discovery and selection of networks, based on user preference, operator policy and connection speed; automatic sign-on based on SIM cards or other methods; immediate provisioning of new user accounts; and WPA2 security.
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