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WirelessDevNet.com Press Release
New Standard Enables Wi-Fi(r) Roaming Cash Flow
Pittstown, NJ, December 3, 2003; The Internet Protocol Detail Record Organization (IPDR.org), an open consortium for next-generation service measurement and exchange, today announced approval of a Wireless Local Area Network Accounting and Settlement (WLANAS) service specification and partnership with the Wi-Fi Alliance. The specification enables price differentiation and inter-operator settlement for universal single-bill access to public WLAN (PWLAN) hotspots.
"The release of a widely-supported PWLAN settlement specification is a major step in the evolution of Wi-Fi roaming," said Tim Allwine, director, Product Management and Development, VeriSign, and IPDR.org WLANAS Working Group co-chair. "It provides a standardized means of information exchange and settlement. This allows roaming partners globally to share revenues and rapidly grow footprints without capital expenditure."
The IPDR.org WLANAS solution standardizes settlement among hotspot operators and a variety of home service providers. The specification supports native environments for every type of provider in the Wi-Fi value chain including GSM, CDMA, WISP, ISP and wireline and helps resolve key technical limitations of cross-industry settlement interoperability.
IPDR.org simultaneously signed a partnership agreement with the Wi-Fi Alliance, which brings together the two open consortia enabling public WLAN.
"IPDR.org considers the Wi-Fi Alliance and its members as the industry leaders in the Wi-Fi space and values their input and expertise," said Aron Heintz, president, IPDR.org.
"The public access industry is in its early formation stages," said Frank Hanzlik managing director of the Wi-Fi Alliance. "Challenges like roaming and settlement can only be solved by bringing together several industry organizations with a common goal. We see the PWLAN settlement specification as a big step forward in moving us towards a vision of global roaming."
IPDR.org members have been actively involved with the evolution of the specification and in some cases have already implemented the solution as part of their IPDR-based toolkit. This intensive work activity developed use-case scenarios for standard Wi-Fi roaming describing the roles (e.g., operators, service providers, hotspot providers, equipment vendor, mediation suppliers, clearinghouses) and software interfaces across the communication value chain.
The WLANAS service specification is the newest addition to the overall series of IPDR.org NDM-U service specifications, and the first to specifically address inter-operator settlement. Other supported services include; VoIP, Streaming Media, CableLabs DOCSIS, etc. Following field trials by members, the WLANAS service specification will be publicly released by mid 2004.
About IPDR.org
IPDR.org developed the Internet Protocol Detail Record "IPDR" interface used by IP network and service providers to capture network data usage information. IPDR.org is an open consortium of leading service providers; software and equipment vendors; system integrators; and billing and mediation vendors. All are collaborating to facilitate service measurement and exchange for next-generation services by implementing de-facto standards.
About Wi-Fi Alliance
The Wi-Fi Alliance is a nonprofit international association formed in 1999 to certify interoperability of wireless Local Area Network products based on IEEE 802.11 specification. Currently the Wi-Fi Alliance has 205 member companies from around the world, and 915 products have received Wi-Fi(r) certification since certification began in March of 2000. The goal of the Wi-Fi Alliance's members is to enhance the user experience through product interoperability.
Contact:
Marianne Jenkinson
908-735-0956
mjenkinson@ipdr.org
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