1. Update to IEEE 802.11 Publicity Committee
Bill Carney
March 16, 2004

2. Agenda Wi-Fi® passes the 1,000 certified product mark
Update: Product interoperability failures
WPA security becomes widely adopted
QoS certification direction
Wi-Fi Alliance, 3/16/04

3. Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ Products
Dual band a/b product already out number the a only products – 12 vs 8
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
Source: Wi-Fi Alliance, 3/01/04

4. Certification Overview
Over 1,000 products have been Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ to date
Products are tested at one of four independent labs in US, UK, Japan and Taiwan
The Wi-Fi Alliance has more experience with testing WLAN products than any organization
Many products do not pass certification testing in the first pass
First pass certification failures are increasing
Dual band certification is rising
Wi-Fi Alliance, 3/01/04

5. Announcement: Certification Failures
On average, one in four products (22%) do not pass certification in the first pass
First pass product failures are increasing
Due to increasing product complexity – additional security, additional data rates and dual bands
It is anticipated that this trend will continue to increase as additional product features are added
QoS
WPA2
More to come…
Consumers will experience these failures unless they purchase Wi-Fi CERTIFED products
Wi-Fi Alliance, 3/01/04

6. What We Have Learned Both new and mature technologies fail
Without testing users would experience these failures
Products prepared for testing still have high failure rate
22% of all products fail testing in initial submission
More recent technologies have a higher failure rate
Many problems fixed during testing - reduces failure rate
Wi-Fi® Certification forces an implementation rigor improving the user experience and value received
Wi-Fi Alliance, 3/01/04

7. Challenges Going Forward
More chip sets and MAC implementations increase probability for interoperability failure
Cost pressures will impact product quality
Different brands used at many different locations - home, work and public access venues – increases interoperability challenge
Product complexity is increasing - The number of standards is increasing – b, g, dual band products, Wi-Fi Protected Access™ Security - more standards to come
90%+ of customers prefer products with an independent product certification (n=5,212)
Wi-Fi Alliance, 3/01/04

8. Wi-Fi Alliance QoS Certification Plans
QoS is a very important element of the next generation of products
The Alliance is hopeful that the IEEE e standard will be completed in 2Q’04 and certification can begin
Because of the importance of this capability to the market, The Alliance is prepared to begin certification before the finalization of the standard, if necessary
This would follow the same process that was used for Wi-Fi Protected Access™ rollout
A decision will be made at the end of March 2004, after the IEEE meeting
Certification test development is proceeding rapidly
Just initiated a Voice over Wi-Fi initiative
Wi-Fi Alliance, 3/01/04

9. Wi-Fi Protected Access™ Status
Wi-Fi Protected Access products were announced in April 2003
50+products certified prior to it becoming mandatory – strong industry support (now 100+)
No hardware upgrade required
Became mandatory in September 2003
Two versions:
WPA - Personal
WPA - Enterprise
Certification of i (WPA2) in ~4Q04
Wi-Fi Alliance, 3/01/04

10. Development Road Map Estimated Task Group Completion Product
Planned
Enhancement
Estimated
Task
Group
Completion
Product
Availability
Earliest Wi-Fi
Alliance
Certification
Enhanced
Security – WPA
Q4 2002
Q2 2003
April 29, 2003
802.11g
Q3 2003
July 8, 2003
802.11a for Europe
(802.11h)
Q4 2003
Q2 2004
WPA V2 (802.11i)
Q3 2004
Q4 2004
Multimedia Support
(802.11e)
Q1 2005
802.11n
Q205
Wi-Fi Alliance, 3/01/04