A Smartphone needs a Smart Network
We have all been into a location and found you have little or no cellular connection, you see the little ‘E’ or ‘GPRS’ on your phone and you know its going to be a slow day… You then notice the venue has WiFi, so you go to your devices WiFi manager and attempt to connect to one of the numerous networks (SSID’s) you see listed. You try each, one at a time getting more and more frustrated as you do, some you get an IP address but get the dreaded ‘Page not found’ some you don’t get an IP address and your device just sits there with a spinning wheel, some require a password just to connect, then eventually you find one that gives you an IP address, and you appear to have some sort of connection only to be presented to a webpage that now asks you to sign in or register, or choose from one of the numerous roaming partners, buy access, go to the counter and get a voucher…
Shouldn’t a smart phone be a smart phone and sort this for you automatically? Your devices cellular connection does this for us all without us having to get our device out our pocket, just like when you step of a plane on vacation and get nice text message from your home network to say hola welcome to Spain, you are now connected over our partner network.. It simply works..
Well now WiFi is making a leap forwards into that grown up world, WiFi is becoming smarter, more intelligent with the latest draft specification from the WiFi Alliance® Hotspot 2.0 Technical Task Group, and network operators are taking this serious and deploying Smart WiFi ready for the demand, and the demand will be there we know from our ever increasing WiFi connections on our existing access points, more and more apps, games and business apps require a constant connection to the outside world. How many of us check our email, Facebook, twitter, linkedin, instagram or our bank account balance! When we are out and about, all requiring a secure fast reliable data connection, something WiFi has struggled with for years but failed often due to the complexities of the connection process being different at each location we visit.
Hotspot 2.0 and more importantly release 2 of the specification allows our smart phone to make a smart choice to get us connected securely and quickly even before connecting to the access point our device has short listed the possibilities and our connection happens securely and seamlessly using our home network or subscription service credentials.
How does this magic happen?
Well the specification introduces a new method of connection, our mobile device (know as a station) will request information from nearby access points using a new protocol Access Network Query Protocol (ANQP) before making a choice on which access point to physically associate and connect to.
The Access Network Query Protocol is a query and response protocol that will inform our station of the services offered by an access point (AP), typically at a WiFi hotspot but this could quiet easily be a corporate headquarters, metro network, hot zone, airport or other such deployment.
The ANQP protocol requests metadata from the access point to help in the device's network selection decision including the APs operator's domain name, the IP addresses (Internet Protocol addresses) available at the AP, and information about potential roaming partners accessible through that AP or network and if the AP is actually operational and with a working backhaul link. It then uses this information to shortlist down to the networks you have valid credentials for. These credentials could be from your home mobile network operator or from a roaming consortium you pay a subscription to.
When a our device queries an AP using ANQP, that device receives a list of items (Metadata) that describe s the services available to you and at that location, without having to connect to the access point to test it first.
This metadata can include such things as • Capabilities of the network(s) being accessed. • Venues associated with the AP. • Authentication types required by or available with the AP. • Network Address Identifier (NAI) realms accessible through the AP. • Information about 3G (third-generation mobile telephony) cellular networks available through the AP. • Emergency Alert System (EAS) message Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs). • Emergency calling instructions (telephone numbers, for example to use in that location). • The geospatial and civic locations of the AP.
ANQP was also designed to be extensible and allows for third parties to add their own metadata, for what could become some new feature in the future. As yet it is to be seen what this could be, but as an idea it maybe possible to gather venue specific information to an app on a device or for better way finding.
ANQP forms the basis for 802.11u Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) specification, an amendment to the IEEE 802.11 set of protocols for wireless local area network (WLAN) operation. Originally published in February 2011, the 802.11u standard provides for connection to external networks using common wireless devices such as smartphones and tablets. One of the most notable applications of 802.11u is the emerging standard called Hotspot 2.0 (HS 2.0) for public-access WiFi. Release 2 of the specification published in February 2014 makes more leaps forward in bringing the cellular vision to out mobile devices.
Hotspot 2.0 release 2 devices that are Passpoint certified and that do not have valid credentials for any of the APs in the vicinity have not been forgotten about either in the new standard, those stations without credentials for any nearby APs can also query ANQP for a secure service to connect too that has responded as an Online Sign Up server (OSU). The station then using one of its own pre-installed root certificates can create a secure connection to the OSU via the AP, before going through the OSU purchase or choice of service process to gain access to a WiFi plan at that location. Allowing all devices that are Passpoint certified to connect securely during the sign up and login process also.
Security and encryption is a big part and lies at the heart of Hotspot 2.0, its been designed to ensure a user entering information on the guest network to gain access is encrypted all the way to the OSU server as well as securing communication with your home network Authentication And Accounting server (AAA). Once authenticated and your station has been granted access, usually to the Internet your device is free to communicate to the outside world.
The specification also allows where needed the means to advertise a service where your own data is carried back to your home network (tunnelled) before being allowed out to the internet, allowing for your home network operator (HNO) to offer the same or similar services to the user as they would expect on the real HNOs network, for example policy control or content filtering. It is guessed though that many HNOs will forgo this opportunity as the cost of tunnelling the users data and latency from various 3rd Party networks worldwide means this feature may go under utilised and the HNO will simply opt to allow the users data to break out to the Internet locally or from the AP operator’s own network.
Smart phones and Smart WiFi equals a Smarter Safer way to connect
This is where Odyssys plays a part
Introducing Odyssys. Every WiFi network needs a control platform. Odyssys has been built from the ground up over 7 years to deliver the ‘Next Generation of WiFi’. Used today to control access to large metro networks around the world.
Odyssys was chosen by Virgin Media to control access to the entire London Underground WiFi Network and installed in under 12 weeks in time for the London 2012 Olympics. Currently Odyssys controls and delivers over 2.2 million sessions a day and integrates into every UK Mobile Network Operator, O2, Everything Everywhere (Orange & T-Mobile), Vodafone providing the RADIUS hub for clients authentication requests, and all delivered over a single SSID fro Virgin Media.
The strength of scale that Odyssys brings has since been used by multiple Metro Networks, including a 26 mile long network in the Heart of London, the city centres of Leeds, Bradford, Birmingham and Hackney to name a few, and has also been used in Enterprise installations for Major Banks and NHS trusts.
In 2014 The City of San Francisco and San Jose wanted to bring together their Municipal networks as one. Offering the ability to sign up in one City and be able to roam, safely, securely and seamless between cities. Odyssys was their chosen partner. The captive portal prompts users with Hotspot 2.0 (Passpoint certified) devices to download a digitally signed mobile configuration that allows their devices to seamlessly connect in either city. These connections are permanently secure and seamless.
The City of San Francisco and San Jose now have a secure and scalable ‘Smart Network’ truly built for smart phones and smart devices. Both Cities are already in talks with other cities around the world that also want to extend and secure their public municipal networks and share in this seamless secure roaming experience for their citizens.
Odyssys allows interoperating roaming partnerships to be agreed between municipalities and delivers this vision today. Any Hotspot 2.0 access point hardware can be used with Odyssys providing a vendor agnostic approach seamless to the clients connecting.
Smart networks for smart devices exists today. Make the smart choice; ask for a demonstration of Odyssys Manger today.
Chris Spencer (D.Sc) - VP Technology Global Reach Technology Limited http://www.globalreachtech.com
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