NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Hotspot 2.0 and or X.400 Redux
OK, I understand the motivation so my T-Mobile(r) can work in a Boingo hotspot by the divvying up the payments. But we should pull the slipknot and let connectivity become simple rather than adding epicycles upon epicycles. But instead we have the revenge of X.400 -- a complex set of protocols so that we can take the abundant capacity all around us and lock it into a twisting complicated maze of billable paths. It's as if someone took control of all our sidewalks and introduced high fences and a passport system to assure that authorized users communicated in authorized paths in authorized ways. Authorization should be an application function -- the way we use the facilities and not a property of the wires and radios (http://rmf.vc/IPGeni). I could go on with the ways this breaks layering and created perverse behavior. I can also compare it with the attempt to impose an IMS control plane on a network. I'm here at CES seeing all the fails due to all the "agree screens" and other snags along the path that make connected healthcare so difficult and frustrate simple connectivity. One way to think of it -- imagine writing a program to do a simple calculation in an unattended embedded system and randomly an advertisement would pop-up causing the system to just stop fail. Designing public infrastructure that defaults to fail is irresponsible or worse. If we're lucky this will fall by the wayside like X.400 and IMS. If we're not ... Kiddies -- X.400 was the phone companies' idea of email which allowed them to keep control over all messaging services. It took 10 years to make changes if all participants approved. It quickly fell by the wayside once the government stopped requiring its use. -----Original Message----- From: dewayne-net@warpspeed.com [mailto:dewayne-net@warpspeed.com] On Behalf Of Dewayne Hendricks Sent: Wednesday, January 11, 2012 02:59 To: Multiple recipients of Dewayne-Net Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Hotspot 2.0 and the Next Generation Hotspot Hotspot 2.0 and the Next Generation Hotspot By Marcus Burton 01.10.12 <http://www.cwnp.com/cwnp_wifi_blog/hotspot-2-0-and-the-next-generation-hots pot> Hotspot 2.0 and the Next Generation Hotspot initiatives are possibly the most exciting areas of wireless progress occurring in 2012. For starters, these developments have a worldwide scope of influence. The technologies that come to market as a result of these programs will directly affect a large portion of the world's population. If brought to market with extensibility, they could revolutionize the hotspot ease-of-use and security landscapes. These programs deserve the spotlight. The Initiatives Hotspot 2.0 and Next Generation Hotspot (NGH) are highly complementary initiatives, but they are different in scope. Hotspot 2.0 is the Wi-Fi Alliance's certification program that will include a technical specification defining the Hotspot 2.0 technology. Following the Wi-Fi Alliance's core purpose, Hotspot 2.0 will also be a device certification, based on product interoperability testing, that allows vendors to implement the protocols in a common way. Hotspot 2.0 is designed for Wi-Fi clients and infrastructure devices to support seamless connectivity to Wi-Fi networks. The specification is still a document in progress, but as a non-Wi-Fi Alliance member, I have a little bit of insight about what we can expect. The first thing to understand about the specification is that the Wi-Fi Alliance is not attempting to define all new technologies. The Hotspot 2.0 effort is a bit more like putting together the pieces of a fragmented puzzle. For example, the spec will draw largely (and selectively) from 802.11u, which enhances network discovery and selection by Wi-Fi clients. 802.11u provides all the protocol-level "hooks" for infrastructure vendors (the WLAN controller and APs) to interwork with backend services (like hub AAA proxy servers and operator AAA servers and user databases). Perhaps more important than the backend integration and querying, 802.11u also provides the protocols and frame components that allow the clients to learn about the backend services on the network. The client can learn what service providers or roaming partner agreements are available through the BSS, what the hotspot service model is like, and the client can even query the backend services for other information. This level of backend transparency facilitates the seamless client selection and connectivity process. In addition to 802.11u, Hotspot 2.0 will draw on the familiar 802.1X/EAP architecture we use in Wi-Fi today. Four EAP types are in the existing spec: EAP-SIM, -AKA, -TLS, and -TTLS. Obviously, the cellular convergence focus comes in with EAP-SIM and AKA. 802.1X is also incorporated for user authentication, but the backend components will vary from one network to another. In most cases, the WLAN infrastructure (APs and/or WLC) will integrate with a "hub" AAA proxy server that interfaces directly with each operator's AAA server. Or the WLAN may interface directly with AAA servers belonging to the network operator as well as a AAA proxy for other operators in a roaming agreement. This is where the business complexity gets interesting, and also where the Wireless Broadband Alliance's (WBA) work with Next Generation Hotspot (NGH) picks up. [snip] Dewayne-Net RSS Feed: <http://www.warpspeed.com/wordpress> _______________________________________________ nnsquad mailing list http://lists.nnsquad.org/mailman/listinfo/nnsquad