A Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) announced last month that it is inviting organizations around the world to join the WBA OpenRoaming, a Wi-Fi federation available worldwide that allows devices to automatically connect to millions of WiFi networks worldwide.
Companies that join WBA OpenRoaming can allow end users to automatically connect to any Wi-Fi network managed by a member of the federation, simplifying Wi-Fi as well as the mobile roaming experience.
Wi-Fi is arguably the most successful wireless technology of our time
Matthew MacPherson, Cisco executive, says that in terms of benefits for operators, WBA OpenRoaming provides a new global standards-driven approach, removes Wi-Fi connectivity barriers from public guests and brings greater convenience and security to the wireless ecosystem.
“No more SSID password guessing games, insecure login credentials or reconnecting to public Wi-Fi. From businesses to cafes, concert venues to connected cars, WBA OpenRoaming creates a world in which Wi-Fi users move from one network to another without having to register or register constantly, ”said MacPherson.
MacPherson emphasized how secure the use of OpenRoaming Wi-Fi would be with the federation, as it is actually a certification authority, and when you join as an IDP and as an access network provider, you receive a certificate.
"When performing an authentication, you use these certificates to create a secure encrypted tunnel from the access network to the identity holder, to ensure that the transaction is secure." "It's less of a concern in that architecture than in what people are doing now," said MacPherson.
The WBA also said that several international telecommunications players have already adopted the concept of OpenRoaming.
