The implementation of a Chinese security standard for wireless networking could undermine efforts to develop a global standard for wireless LANs and drive up the cost of networking equipment for end users, warned a senior executive at the IEEE in a recent letter to Chinese government officials.
The Standardization Administration of China (SAC) announced the adoption of China's WLAN standard, called GB15629.11-2003, in May. While WLAN equipment sold in China is required to comply with this standard from Dec. 1, a transition period has been granted that extends the compliance deadline for some WLAN products until June 1, 2004.
The Chinese WLAN standard is similar in many ways to IEEE's 802.11 wireless networking standard - commonly known as Wireless Fidelity or Wi-Fi - but it has one crucial difference: it uses a different security protocol, called WLAN Authentication and Privacy Infrastructure (WAPI). WAPI is not part of the 802.11 standard, which relies instead on Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP).
The existence of two different standards for WLANs, one for China and one for the rest of the world, could cause the market for wireless networking equipment to splinter in two, according to Paul Nikolich, chairman of the IEEE 802 Local and Metropolitan Area Network Standards Committee.
"We believe that mandatory implementation of the WAPI protocols would unnecessarily fracture the world market for WLAN products," Nikolich wrote in a letter dated Nov. 23 to SAC Chairman Li Zhonghai and Wang Xudong, China's minister of information industry.
"We are concerned that mandatory use of the standard would prohibit the use of 802.11 standard products and thereby limit choice and increase costs to users," he wrote.
News source: NetworkWorldFusion - IEEE: Chinese security standard could fracture Wi-Fi
