Microsoft automates Wi-Fi network setup

Computerworld - 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 Windows Server 2003 Server Pack 1 and in the first quarter of 2004 for both XP clients.
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 usedby 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.

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