Thursday, March 28, 2024

A Couple Hundred Gadgets Certified Wi-Fi Protected

Datamation content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.

During the Mobile World Congress last week, the Wi-Fi Alliance announced that it has certified more than 200 devices as part of its Wi-Fi Protected Setup Program.  The program, which was launched just over a year ago, is intended to help consumer and small-business users to secure their Wi-Fi networks. 

Products certified for Wi-Fi Protected Setup include dual-mode Wi-Fi/cellular phones, Wi-Fi enabled printers, and more than 80 products featuring Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 802.11n draft 2.0 technology. Just over half of the devices are also certified for WMM (Wi-Fi Multimedia) Quality of Service, which optimizes them for voice, gaming, and multimedia applications. 

The WFA has also launched testing support for NFC (Near-Field Communication) as an additional Wi-Fi Protected Setup network configuration method. 

NFC is a short-range wireless technology that allows consumer electronics, mobile devices and PCs to communicate. Accrording to WFA:

In the NFC method, a user touches a card or token to designated areas on an access point and a client device to connect them. NFC joins two previously-tested mechanisms, push-button and PIN entry, to simplify the process of joining devices to a security-enabled Wi-Fi network.

Like the push-button method, the NFC technique is especially useful to connect devices that don’t have a keyboard-oriented user interface, such as cameras, gaming devices, and other consumer electronics. Manufacturers now have even more flexibility in how to deploy Wi-Fi Protected Setup, ultimately giving consumers more choice when they buy Wi-Fi CERTIFIED phones and consumer electronics.

A list of all products Wi-Fi CERTIFIED for Wi-Fi Protected Setup, as well as a white paper (available at no charge) which describes the specification in detail, is available at the Wi-Fi Alliance Web site. 

This article first appeared on Wi-Fi Planet

Subscribe to Data Insider

Learn the latest news and best practices about data science, big data analytics, artificial intelligence, data security, and more.

Similar articles

Get the Free Newsletter!

Subscribe to Data Insider for top news, trends & analysis

Latest Articles