London, March 209, 2020 – The Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) today announced its intention to take over ownership and management of Cisco OpenRoaming as a global wireless industry standard.
In a press release, the Alliance said the move was designed to facilitate the broad adoption of OpenRoaming by new and existing Wi-Fi networks, identity and 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, a technology for seamless Wi-Fi onboarding developed by Cisco, 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.
Announcing the move, WBA CEO Tiago Rodrigues said in the press release: “OpenRoaming now becomes an open standard, creating a world where Wi-Fi users will be able to move seamlessly from one Wi-Fi network to another without re-registering or signing in. 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.
“OpenRoaming is now open for business,” he added, “and I call on anyone with a Wi-Fi network, private or public, coffee shop or sports stadia or any other type of venue, to join our open ecosystem in order for the service they offer to their users to be automatic, secure, and interoperable, making their networks available to a wider audience.”