The IDA-Intel Wireless Hotspots and Network Interworking Initiative was a joint collaboration between Intel and IDA to work on the technical challenges towards achieving seamless connectivity in the wireless world. The objective was to develop and accelerate an open and standards-based architecture for cross-operator network roaming via the interworking of:
- Public Wireless Local Area Networks (PWLAN) or wireless hotspots
- Wireless Wide Area Networks (WWAN) or mobile cellular networks
- Wide Area Networks (WAN) or fixed networks
This collaboration was significant for Singapore and Asia as a whole, in that it was the first of its kind to involve the participation of operators and vendors from across the Asia-Pacific region and beyond. It comprised of two components: an interworking study and an interoperability lab test.
The interworking study culminated in a blueprint that defined the steps needed to achieve seamless connectivity by incorporating user roaming requirements, developing a harmonised interworking architecture, and the final submission of the proposed architecture to the relevant standards body for consideration. The blueprint has since been shared with network operators and equipment vendors to ensure industry feedback and consensus.
For the interoperability lab test, network operators and equipment vendors were involved in testing out the viability of the recommendations put forth by the interworking study. In particular, the lab test verified the interoperability of multi-vendor solutions that the respective network operators used, particularly in the areas of user authentication, authorisation and accounting, which were vital for the realisation of seamless roaming.
This document describes the results of the Interoperability Lab Test which has validated the Public WLAN Interworking Reference Architecture developed under the IDA-Intel Wireless Interworking Initiative. It highlights the issues observed across the different PWLAN authentication methods and presents an assessment of these methods. The document also describes a set of recommendations and an architectural blueprint for deploying open, standards-based Public WLAN hotspots.