The Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) on Thursday announced its intention to take over ownership and management of OpenRoaming, a technology for seamless Wi-Fi onboarding developed by Cisco.
The move, in line with the WBA’s history and leadership on Wi-Fi Roaming services and interoperability, is designed to facilitate the broad adoption of OpenRoaming by new and existing Wi-Fi Networks, identity & service providers and other technology partners across the global Wi-Fi ecosystem.
WBA will take full control of the development, promotion and administration of OpenRoaming. OpenRoaming is built upon a set of standards and guidelines developed by the WBA and Wi-Fi Alliance and now adopted as an industry wide initiative led by the WBA. OpenRoaming has seen tremendous growth in the past year and is expected to play a crucial role in delivering great mobile experiences and ushering in a new era of mobile applications.
OpenRoaming adheres to Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Passpoint and Wireless Roaming Intermediary Exchange (WRIX) standards. It helps bridge the gap between Wi-Fi and cellular networks and allows users to seamlessly and securely roam between Wi-Fi networks without the use of splash pages or sign-in screens.
Tiago Rodrigues, CEO, WBA
As a global wireless industry standard, WBA OpenRoaming will improve Wi-Fi services and availability, making life easier for users, and more efficient for the global mobile and Wi-Fi ecosystem.
Matt MacPherson, Wireless CTO, Cisco
We knew OpenRoaming would be a game-changing wireless technology, but the support from across the industry has even surpassed our expectations. OpenRoaming is vital to unlocking the potential of wireless communications.
