Resource Centre Archive - Page 4 of 8 - Wireless Broadband Alliance

WBA Annual Industry Report 2020

Today there are over 9 billion Wi-Fi devices globally; This is easily the most dynamic time for anyone involved with Wi-Fi – from service providers to technology vendors – as the industry addresses massive opportunities from Wi-Fi 6 and unlicensed spectrum to 5G convergence, Wi-Fi roaming and IoT. Wi-Fi is a multi-billion dollar industry which reaches into every area of our lives, in home, at work and leisure and increasingly in the way machines talk to each other (IoT).

With non-stop innovation in the industry, Wi-Fi will continue its incredible growth creating both opportunities and challenges and in this year’s Annual Industry Report we take a look at the key take-outs for 2019 and look ahead over the next 18-24 months as Wi-Fi keeps evolving, powering new devices and applications, and reaching new users. Never has there been a more exciting time – so if you haven’t already, join the Wi-Fi revolution!

01 - 10 - 19 | Industry Reports

Wi-Fi & LoRaWAN® Deployment Synergies

The Wi-Fi & LoRaWAN® Deployment Synergies white paper illustrates new business opportunities for Mobile operators, enterprises, cities and other key Internet of Things (IoT) market players that are created when Wi-Fi networks that are traditionally built to support critical IoT are merged with LoRaWAN® networks. This paper summarizes the strengths of each technology, their individual positions in the IoT ecosystem, state their complementary nature, the way that both technologies can be easily deployed simultaneously and provide testimonials.

When utilized in conjunction with one another, Wi-Fi and LoRaWAN networks optimize a number of IoT use cases, including Smart Building/Smart Hospitality, Residential Connectivity, Automotive & Smart Transportation and many more.

This paper showcases to Wi-Fi network owners and/or network service providers how LoRaWAN^® can be deployed on the top of an existing Wi-Fi network and, as a complement, will allow for operational costs optimization.

24 - 09 - 19 | WBA white papers

RAN Convergence

The WBA & NGMN Joint Task Force: RAN Convergence White Paper explores the importance of existing and future Wi-Fi and cellular convergence, highlighting techniques that enable convergence and identifying solutions to bridge technology gaps – critically this is a major step towards realizing the full benefits of the 5G vision enabled by Wi-Fi.

The paper outlines how mobile operators will benefit from the convergence of Wi-Fi and 5G by gaining improved visibility into Wi-Fi networks, affording them the ability to control customer experience, deliver better services to customers and provide enterprise Wi-Fi network management solutions to enterprise customers. Wi-Fi operators, meanwhile, will benefit from convergence by gaining improved visibility and transition management as they operate overlapping cellular and Wi-Fi networks, ultimately resulting in an improved user experience. Additionally, enterprise Wi-Fi networks will gain the ability to access operator-provided 5G services.

Previously WBA has outlined the new business opportunities created through the convergence of Wi-Fi and 5G – this paper outlines the ‘how’ at the network and RAN layers, we can enable these opportunities including enterprise use cases, manufacturing, public hotspots and residential applications. We outline how a new set of 5G use cases and verticals will require combined resources from both cellular and Wi-Fi networks. This will provide cost-effective solutions that meet diverse sets of requirements on throughput, latency, connection density, coverage, availability and reliability. This is especially important for smartphones that carry a significant amount of data traffic by accessing Wi-Fi. Convergence of Wi-Fi and 5G will lead to better user experience for smartphone customers and create new business opportunities for both Wi-Fi and mobile operators. As Wi-Fi 6 deployments start to mature, then convergence benefits are manifold and to benefits from the maximum ROI operators will need to address a number of challenges that exist when integrating Wi-Fi and cellular networks in enterprise, residential and public Wi-Fi deployments. In particular, the paper explores the benefits of creating a standardized interface between Wi-Fi and cellular networks to improve end-to-end network performance, elevate user experience and, ultimately, empower both mobile and Wi-Fi operators to create new business opportunities utilizing the converged technologies.

03 - 09 - 19 | Wi-Fi 6 Resources, WBA white papers

Captive Network Portal Standards

The Captive Network Portal Standards white paper defines some existing use cases, aligns user experience (UX), presents practices to consider and provides suggested guidelines for future features that can be adopted as a unified standard by client devices, client manufacturers and network hardware manufacturers.

This paper includes:

· How the current operating systems behave by Client, OS, and Version

· Key use cases for NGH/Passpoint™ with monetization opportunities

· Illustration of pre-authorization connectivity & onboarding process

· Recommendation for enhancing clients and onboarding user experience and future features

07 - 08 - 19 | WBA white papers

Next Generation Hotspot (NGH) Wi-Fi Roaming Guidelines

Next Generation Hotspot (NGH) is WBA’s accomplishment of an end-to-end Wi-Fi Roaming experience, achieving the seamless, secure and interoperable experience set as a benchmark by the Wi-Fi industry. This white paper examines the business case for NGH and Wi-Fi Roaming, and also provides a detailed breakdown of the building blocks needed for setting up quality roaming services. It outlines a number of successful trials and demos, and explores the ways in which WBA and its members are working to ensure that the technology continues to evolve.

24 - 07 - 19 | Specifications & guidelines

Understanding The Global Implications Of Wi-Fi 6 & 6GHz

WBA’s latest white paper explores the implications of opening the 6GHz band to Wi-Fi by first clarifying what Wi-Fi 6 is and then by detailing how Wi-Fi will make use of this added spectrum. It explores the benefits and challenges of doing so, and it strives to address concerns raised by providers of public utilities, public safety and wireless backhaul, all of whom currently use the 6GHz band for vital microwave communications.

17 - 07 - 19 | Wi-Fi 6 Resources, WBA white papers

Wi-Fi 6 Deployment Guidelines & Scenarios

The WBA’s Wi-F 6 Deployment Guidelines provide a number of possible scenarios utilizing Wi-Fi 6 technology. Operators, enterprises and cities can leverage the guidelines as the tools needed to embrace and deploy Wi-Fi 6 when it’s released later this year.

Savvy deployment of Wi-Fi 6 can mitigate some of the growing pains that Wi-Fi is experiencing, while ensuring that operators, enterprises and vendors meet important service-level agreements (SLAs). As such, the work released today proposes guidelines to ensure SLAs around bandwidth, throughput, latency, traffic prioritization and numerous other factors. The paper also provides guidelines for RF planning and design, with consideration given to factors like band steering, MU-MIMO and adjusting for high-density deployments that demand increased capacity. Additionally, today’s release addresses ways that Wi-Fi 6 deployments can provide seamless mobility and backward compatibility with previous Wi-Fi generation technology.

10 - 07 - 19 | Wi-Fi 6 Resources, WBA white papers