Posted Date: 5/9/2012

Wi-Fi Alliance Adds Certifications for Enterprise-Class Wireless Performance

By Jessica Binns, Contributing Editor
The Wi-Fi Alliance will soon begin to certify products for two new programs that deliver enterprise-grade voice quality, mobility, power savings and security protections.

Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Voice-Enterprise is designed to support good voice call quality in large enterprise networks that require support for advanced WPA2-Enterprise security mechanisms. The program builds on the existing Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Voice-Personal program to support fast transitions between access points APs and provide management for voice applications.

Wi-Fi CERTIFIED WMM-Admission Control provides bandwidth management tools to optimize the delivery of voice and video traffic in Wi-Fi networks.

Planned for launch late in the second quarter, the new certification programs will provide enterprise IT managers solutions for better voice quality and bandwidth management in their Wi-Fi networks, with the following benefits:

• Priority for voice applications: APs give priority to voice packets over data packets, optimizing performance in mixed traffic environments where heavy data, voice and video traffic co-exist
• Seamless mobility: Voice connectivity is preserved as the user moves within the enterprise network, from one AP to the next
• Power savings: Solutions are optimized for battery-operated devices, implementing mechanisms across the system that maximize power efficiency
• Advanced security protection: Industry-standard WPA2 security ensures only authorized users access the network and protects the privacy of communications

"These new certification programs reflect Wi-Fi's continued prominence as an enterprise networking technology and bring important new tools to meet the needs of demanding enterprise applications," said Kelly Davis-Felner, marketing director of the Wi-Fi Alliance. "As enterprise connectivity continues to evolve, Wi-Fi Alliance will continue to give IT managers confidence that products will meet the needs of ever-more-complex networks."

Voice-Enterprise and WMM-Admission Control-certified devices can connect with older Wi-Fi CERTIFIED devices, enabling a vast range of devices already in use to connect with products implementing these new features. Voice-Enterprise and WMM-Admission Control-certified devices can support Wi-Fi CERTIFIED n technology, as well as other versions of Wi-Fi.

Products selected as the test suite devices for Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Voice-Enterprise testing are:

Aruba 105 Wireless Access Point and Aruba 3200 Controller
Broadcom Wireless-N WLAN mini-card adapter reference design
Cisco Aironet 1260 Series Access Point and Cisco Aironet 2100 Series WLAN Controller
DSP Group Expeditor TB Wi-Fi Reference Board
Marvell Plug Computer with 8787 Dual Band Wi-Fi
Meru 802.11abgn AP310 Access Point and Meru MC1500 controller
Qualcomm Atheros XSPAN Reference Design Concurrent Dual-Band Access Point
Research In Motion BlackBerry Bold 9000

Products selected as test suite devices for the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED WMM-Admission Control testing are:

Aruba 105 Wireless Access Point and Aruba 3200 Controller
Cisco Aironet 1260 Series Access Point and Cisco Aironet 2100 Series WLAN Controller
DSP Group Expeditor TB Wi-Fi Reference Board
Marvell Plug Computer with 8787 Dual Band Wi-Fi
Meru 802.11abgn AP310 Access Point and Meru MC1500 controller
Ralink RT3800PDAP3 Wireless Access Point
Ralink MIMObility 802.11n Reference Design
Research In Motion BlackBerry Bold 9000

More information on Wi-Fi CERTIFIED programs, a list of Wi-Fi CERTIFIED products, technical specifications, white papers, and more are available at www.wi-fi.org.