Wi-Fi Alliance adds Power Save to WMM program

The Wi-Fi Alliance's Wi-Fi Multimedia product certification program, which is largely based on the capabilities included in the IEEE's recently approved 802.11e standard for quality of service over Wi-Fi, now includes WMM Power Save, a new certification framework that answers the concerns about wireless device battery drain that have been mounting with the promise of more devices capable of multi-protocol access.

WMM Power Save provides a new framework for makers of both access points and client devices to improve Wi-Fi power efficiency via improved signaling capabilities, as well as fine-tune power consumption.

"WMM Power Save has the potential to provide significant improvement in battery life for devices such as mobile handsets," said Wi-Fi Alliance Managing Director Frank Hanzlik, in a prepared statement. "This new program builds on our successful WMM Quality of Service program, which has certified more than 230 devices since its launch in September 2004, and is an important milestone in our efforts to support Wi-Fi in exciting new markets."

Previously, while the 802.11e standard was still in development, the Wi-Fi Alliance had taken some aspects of the standard that were completed early on and used them to forge the WMM program. Earlier elements of the WMM program have included some quality of service parameters for voice over Wi-Fi. Meanwhile, Hanzlik told Telephony recently that the industry has been eagerly awaiting the introduction of a Power Save certification program because Wi-Fi access increases the potential power drain on mobile device with already-precious battery life.

"Monica Paolini, of Senza Fili Consulting, added, "As many as 55 million subscribers for Wi-Fi-enabled mobile phones are expected in the consumer market alone by 2010, and this, combined with enterprise adoption, presents a tremendous market opportunity."

The Wi-Fi Alliance has a white paper entitled "WMM Power Save for Mobile and Portable Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Devices" available for free download at www.wi-fi.org. The whitepaper explores the market significance of WMM Power Save and presents guidance for proper implementation.

The following devices are the first to be certified under the new program, and currently are part of the WMM Power Save test bed being run by the Wi-Fi Alliance:

• Atheros AR5002AP-2X Access Point
• Broadcom AirForce™ BCM94704AGR Dual-Band 802.11a/g Access Point
• Broadcom AirForce™ BCM94309CB Dual-Band 802.11a/g PC Card
• Cisco AIR-AP1231G-A-K9 with AIR-RM21A-A-K9
• Conexant 802.11a/g PRISM WorldRadio
• Marvell Semiconductor 802.11a/b/g WLAN router
• Ralink 802.11a/g Mini PCI
• Winbond Mini PCI 802.11a/b/g WLAN Client