OPENROAMING WHITE PAPER
All You Need To Know About OpenRoaming
Download our brand new All You Need To Know About OpenRoaming white paper or learn more about what you can expect from the white paper below.
OpenRoaming is a groundbreaking initiative aimed at revolutionizing how we connect to Wi-Fi networks across the globe. OpenRoaming is growing fast. When the author of our white paper, Johan Terve, first considered writing it, the OpenRoaming federation had around 1 million hotspots globally. Now, the count is over 3 million.
Wi-Fi As Seamless and Secure As Cellular
The OpenRoaming white paper provides a comprehensive view of OpenRoaming. Spearheaded by the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA), the OpenRoaming federation is a collaborative effort among vendors, service providers, identity providers, and venue owners to create a seamless and secure Wi-Fi roaming experience globally for users, irrespective of their location or identity provider. The vision is to make Wi-Fi as seamless and secure as when you roam in cellular networks.
There are two different roles in the OpenRoaming federation:
Access Network Providers (ANP)
An ANP provides the Wi-Fi network, and they can be anything from major Wi-Fi service providers to hotel chains, malls, airports, or congress centers. Any organization with a Wi-Fi network can apply to be part of the OpenRoaming federation.
Identity Providers (IDP)
An IDP authenticates and authorizes users for the OpenRoaming service offered by ANPs. Anyone providing a user account can apply to be part of the OpenRoaming federation. An excellent example is device manufacturers. Both Samsung and Google are identity providers.
Ubiquitous Global Wi-Fi Roaming
Other potential identity providers could be companies with loyalty programs, such as Airlines or Internet giants like Facebook, Amazon, and Netflix.
The beauty of the OpenRoaming federation is that any IDP and ANP can roam with each other without even being aware that the other party exists. The roaming is enabled by well-established technology standards, including Passpoint, Dynamic Peer Discovery (DPD), Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), and Secure Radius (RadSec).
Johan Terve, Senior Director of Marketing, EneaWhen I started to dive deep into the OpenRoaming specification, I realized there was much more to it than what first meets the eye.
OpenRoaming
Don’t Need To Be So ‘Open’
OpenRoaming White Paper Content
OpenRoaming, what’s in a name? ‘Open’ sounds good, but it implies roaming without control. Nothing could be more incorrect! Both an Identity Provider (IDP) and an Access Network Provider (ANP) can control the characteristics of a roaming partner by implementing so-called Closed Access Group policies (CAG). An IDP can, for example, choose to only roam with ANPs that provide a specific Quality of Service (QoS).
This white paper provides a comprehensive overview of OpenRoaming, its goals, architecture, benefits, challenges, and potential to shape wireless connectivity’s future.
The white paper is targeted towards both business and technical people with the following main chapters:
- Executive Summary
- The What and Why of OpenRoaming
- Traditional Hotspot Versus OpenRoaming
- OpenRoaming Overview
- Staying in Control in the OpenRoaming Era
- The Captive Portal Is Dead – Long Live the Captive Portal
- The Silver Bullet for Neutral Host Wi-Fi Offload
- What’s next: OpenRoaming for IoT Onboarding?
- OpenRoaming for Techies
We hope that you will enjoy our white paper All You Need To Know About OpenRoaming. Stay tuned for more OpenRoaming insights, this is just the beginning.
All you need to know about
OpenRoaming White Paper
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