WiMAX and WiFi bodies plan to merge

The Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) - which represents primarily major carriers operating WiFi hotspots - and the WiMAX Spectrum Owners Alliance (WiSOA) are collaborating "to advance global roaming for WiMAX and inter-standard roaming between WiMAX and WiFi" as a first step towards an eventual merger.

Executive committee members include Deutsche Telekom/T-Mobile, Orange France, BT, KT, Swisscom and Tata Communications and clearinghouse providers such as MACH, Syniverse and VeriSign.

The WBA has developed the Wireless Roaming Intermediary eXchange (WRIX), a set of modular specifications and standards for radius interconnection, data & financial clearing that is now used extensively to support commercial WiFi roaming amongst WBA members.

According to WiSOA spokesman, and Unwired founder, Steve Cosser: "The ability to use WBA WRIX provides both WiFi and WiMAX operators with instant access to a commercially and technically proven roaming capability along with an ecosystem of interconnect and clearinghouse providers. As WBA members have a global WiFi footprint and some are evaluating WiMAX, working together allows all of us to swiftly upgrade the WBA WRIX to support WiMAX roaming as well as inter-roaming between WiFi and WiMAX."

Prateek Pashine, chairman of WBA, said: "The agreement between WiSOA with WBA brings the rich experience of the participant operators on WiMAX which would help accelerate the development and deployment of commercial roaming for WiMAX operators as well as inter-standard roaming between WiMAX and WiFi. This is in line with WBA's vision to provide customers with seamless internet access and services across networks and geographies, just as the customers would use in their home networks."

Pashine added that an industry collaboration project to support requirements for WiMAX roaming and inter-standard roaming between WiMAX and WiFi had already been commissioned by WBA, and the initial results were expected to be available for operators by second half of 2008.