Wi-Fi Alliance adds enterprise certification programs
The Wi-Fi Alliance announced that it will soon begin to certify products for two new programs created to provide enterprise-grade voice quality, mobility, power savings and security protections.
The first new program, 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.
Products selected as the test suite devices for Wi-Fi Certified Voice-Enterprise testing include the: 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.
The second new program, Wi-Fi Certified WMM-Admission Control, provides bandwidth management tools to optimize the delivery of voice and video traffic in Wi-Fi networks. Products selected as test suite devices for the Wi-Fi Certified WMM-Admission Control testing include the: 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.
Voice-Enterprise and WMM-Admission Control-certified devices can connect with older Wi-Fi Certified devices, enabling a 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. Planned for launch late in the second quarter, Wi-Fi Alliance says both new programs will provide enterprise IT managers solutions for better voice quality and bandwidth management in their Wi-Fi networks, including 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."
More information is available at www.wi-fi.org.
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