At the Mobile World Congress 2014 in Barcelona, Spain, Cisco Hotspot 2.0 — in association with AT&T and Accuris Networks — will be deployed on a grand scale for the first time.
AT&T, Cisco and Accuris Networks are collaborating with several global mobile operators, including Bell Mobility, China Mobile, Korea Telecom, MEO, Mobily, NTT DOCOMO, PCCW-HKT, SK Telecom, and True to provide a Next-Generation Wi-Fi Hotspot network at the conference.
Customers of the participating mobile operators with the latest compatible phones will automatically authenticate onto the Hotspot 2.0 Wi-Fi network when they walk through the conference doors.
Hotspot 2.0 has been certified through the Wi-Fi Alliance certification process and has been designated Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Passpoint.
AT&T, Cisco and Accuris Networks have contributed immensely for the Hotspot 2.0 project. For instance, AT&T Mobility worked with its roaming partners, including the participating mobile operators, to add Wi-Fi roaming to their roaming agreements.
Enterprise networking vendor Cisco provided the carrier-grade Wi-Fi network, made up entirely of the latest Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Passpoint access points and controllers, based on the Hotspot 2.0 specification. The Cisco solution features self-configuring, self-optimizing and self-healing intelligence across the network, offering self-optimizing network (SON) performance over Wi-Fi.
Accuris Networks provided the cellular access to Wi-Fi connection that enables users at Mobile World Congress to securely and automatically connect onto the Wi-Fi network. Accuris Networks ensures there are no cumbersome passwords or pop-ups, while authentication and billing are managed, behind the scenes, through SIM cards, just like cellular.
“As the Wi-Fi and cellular worlds merge, developing a common authentication mechanism with standard roaming agreements is a natural next step,” said JR Wilson, vice president, Partnerships and Alliances, AT&T Mobility and chairman of the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA).
Hotspot 2.0 is the beginning for the new mobile network. Once users can securely roam onto the Wi-Fi network as easily as they do on the cellular network, operators can start offering a host of new services that take advantage of the indoor location information and analytics uniquely provided by indoor small cells.
Bob Friday, vice president and chief technology officer, mobility, Cisco, said: “Several mobile device manufacturers now support Hotspot 2.0 and we are seeing the adoption of Hotspot 2.0 by mobile network operators with roaming agreements being put in place.”
