Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Microsoft automates Wi-Fi network setup

From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 13 Oct 2003 17:13:58 -0400

Microsoft automates Wi-Fi network setup
By Bob Brewin
OCTOBER 13, 2003

Microsoft Corp. plans to add Wireless Provisioning Services (WPS) to its Windows
XP clients and Windows Server 2003, a change designed to make it easier for users
to log onto Wi-Fi networks.
Microsoft, which introduced WPS at the International Telecommunication Union's
Telecom World 2003 conference today in Geneva, said the new service would allow
Wi-Fi network providers and enterprises to send configuration information to a
mobile client as it connects to a public or corporate Wi-Fi network. Microsoft
plans to introduce WPS in the first quarter of 2004 for both XP clients and in
Windows Server 2003 Server Pack 1.

WPS allows a Wi-Fi network to recognize users as soon as they log on and, if the
network is a fee-based public-access Wi-Fi network, automatically set up the
session and handle billing.
In conjunction with the Microsoft announcement, T-Mobile USA unveiled plans to use
WPS to improve the security of public-access Wi-Fi hot spots it operates at 3,000
locations in the U.S.
Microsoft already offers Wi-Fi Protected Access security on its XP clients. It
uses Temporal Key Integrity Protocol to beef up encryption through the use of
dynamic keys that can be changed rapidly (see story). Microsoft has also built
into Windows XP the 802.1x security standard, which uses the Extensible
Authentication Protocol. That protocol relies on an algorithm to authenticate a
user's identity.
Peter Thompson, director of marketing for T-Mobile USA in Bellevue, Wash., said
his company plans to use WPS to automatically provide 802.1x services to client
devices equipped with 802.1x at any of its Wi-Fi hot spots, including more than
2,000 in coffee shops operated by Starbucks Corp.

Thompson said that by offering 802.1x, T-Mobile believes it can "break down the
barriers" to the use of public-access Wi-Fi networks by enterprise users.
Providing extra security will help meet the concerns of enterprise IT manages and
"enable us to close a lot of large corporate accounts," Thompson said.
The 802.1x service, which T-Mobile has already started testing and plans to offer
throughout its network by the second quarter of next year, will help T-Mobile
differentiate itself in the increasingly crowded public-access Wi-Fi market,
Thompson said. T-Mobile plans to offer 802.1x service as an option. Users whose
clients don't feature 802.1x will still be able to use the company's network,
Thompson said.
Offering the 802.1x service wouldn't be a technical challenge, according to Jim
Keeler, vice president of engineering development at Wayport Inc. in Austin. He
said new Wi-Fi access points from Cisco Systems Inc. -- which are used by both
T-Mobile and Wayport -- feature built-in 802.1x. Dan Lowden, Wayport's vice
president of marketing, said that if customer demand warranted it, the company
would retrofit older access points to provide 802.1x but that it hasn't yet
decided to do so.
Wayport offers hot spot service in hotels, airports and 75 McDonald's Corp.
restaurants.

http://www.computerworld.com/mobiletopics/mobile/story/0,10801,86008,00.html?nas=PM-86008

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