In the face of controversy, the Chinese government has unanimously agreed to strongly support a home-grown wireless broadband technology in competition against Intel, said an official with the Standardization Administration of China (SAC).

UNANIMOUS GOVERNMENT SUPPORT FOR WAPI

Wired Authentication and Privacy Infrastructure (WAPI) is a solution to the security loophole of the existing 802.11 standard of wireless local area networks (WLAN).

In direct competition against 802.11i dominated by Intel, the technology is waiting for final voting to determine whether it is adopted as the international standard. The deadline is March 7.

"We are sure to vote for WAPI and reject 11i", said the official with SAC.

Developed by IWNCOMM, a private company in Northwest China's hi-tech center Xi'an City, WAPI has attracted wide attention from both the domestic and overseas IT markets for its sound security to wireless networks.

The Chinese government has attached great importance to the technology and has organized joint meetings of concerned ministries. A unanimous agreement has been reached to support WAPI internationally, said the official.

Mobile communications expert Li Jinliang said that the technological defects of 11i are obvious and well-known and have been brought to the attention of the International Standard Organization (ISO) by Chinese engineers.

The American National Institute of Standards and Technology has also expressed doubts about the security of 11i and said that it may not choose it.

The Chinese government has said in documents delivered to ISO that China would not adopt a technology with obvious defects.

HARD ROAD TO STANDARD AS IT CHALLENGES INTEL TECH

As a WLAN security technology developed by domestic Chinese companies, WAPI has received a lot of attention.

In May of 2003, the Chinese Ministry of Information Industry (MII) declared WAPI as the national standard and said that all WLAN equipment sold in China should comply with the new technology as of Dec. 1 that year. A transition period was granted that extended the compliance deadline for some WLAN products to June 1, 2004.

However, during the following annual joint commission on commerce and trade between China and the United States, China agreed to delay the enforcement of the WAPI standard because of pressure from the 802.11i camp through the American government.

802.11i is an improved extension designed primarily by Intel engineers to make up for the loophole in the widely used WLAN standard ISO/IEC 8802.11.

However, the newly developed technology could not secure the networks as it did not give up the WEP technology, which is the major cause of the security loophole. Furthermore, the technologies proposed by 11i to fix WEP have security loopholes themselves, said the expert.

HUGE MARKET BREEDS COMPETITION

A report released by the China Center for Information Industry Development predicted that China's WLAN equipment market would grow at over 30 percent to 3.59 billion yuan in 2009.

Last October, WAPI was proposed to the ISO for adoption as an international standard.

The process, however, quickly encountered problems. Even during the time waiting for a final vote, the American Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. (IEEE), dominated by Intel, violated ISO rules to spread rumors about WAPI, said Cao Jun, deputy director of the China Broadband Wireless IP Standard Group.

IEEE made unfavorable remarks about WAPI to prevent it from becoming a national or international standard, said Cao.

The organization and its representatives have produced anti-WAPI documents and asked participating members to vote against WAPI using arguments that IEEE has developed, said a letter sent in the name of Chinese National Body to concerned ISO members on February 23.

China believes that IEEE's anti-WAPI campaign has gone beyond normal standardization boundaries and violated many ISO rules and principles, the letter said.

China has found that IEEE has been engaged in many illicit activities against WAPI in the past 18 months. A document produced by the organization in Sept. 2005 to prevent WAPI from entering the fast track ballot simultaneously with 11i on Oct. 7, 2005. The organization produced another document in Nov. last year aiming at mobilizing negative votes against WAPI and favorable votes for 11i, the letter said.

Intel, too, made use of its control of media resources to slander WAPI, said Cao.

CHINESE GOVERNMENT APPEALS FOR FAIR VOTE

"If you agree with China that security is of utmost importance in the ballot, then vote for WAPI and reject 11i," says the document, in which China calls for support from ISO members.

During the joint commission in 2004, the United States agreed to help WAPI apply for international standard, but its later explanation turned out to be the opposite, said the official with SAC.

He said it is hard to predict the final result of voting, but stressed that the Chinese government is making every effort to introduce the technological advantages of WAPI. "We are trying our best to win more votes for WAPI," he said.

INTERNATIONAL OR NOT, WAPI WILL BE DOMESTICALLY APPLIED

Whether or not WAPI is adopted as an international standard will not change its wide application in China's domestic market, said the official with SAC.

The home-grown WLAN security technology is more competitive in both technology and cost as it makes up for the security loophole of ISO/IEC 8802.11 and, as a local product, will be cheaper, he said.

WAPI products have not started to sell in the international market and the priority target should be in China, he said.

According to Cao, WAPI has been put into application in the domestic power supply and education industries as well as government institutions.

On Dec. 30 last year, China issued a circular saying that government departments should give priority to products meeting national security standards when purchasing WLAN products, including computers, printers, telecom equipment, copy machines and projectors.

On Jan. 1, the Ministry of Information Industry, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Science and Technology held a joint meeting to prepare for the launch of the WAPI Industrial Alliance on Tuesday.

Four major telecom operators and major companies in the field have been working actively to push forward its establishment, said Cao. (1 dollar= 8.03 yuan)

Source: Xinhua