Only OSU to Support Wi-Fi Onboarding for all Operating Systems

November 16, 2016 – WBA Wireless Congress, San Jose: The GlobalReach Passpoint Hotspot 2.0 online signup service (OSU), is now the first commercial provisioning software with inbuilt Hotspot 2.0 Release 2 support for Windows 10, said the Wi-Fi AAA and captive portal software platform company today. The updated GlobalReach OSU will be available to wireless service providers from December 1.

The news comes as number of ‘active devices’ running Windows 10 hit 400 million across 192 countries, and is on target to reach one billion users within three years.

Today’s announcement continues GlobalReach Technology’s commitment to be the only Hotspot 2.0 OSU to support all major operating systems. It follows the 2015 integration of Windows 10 Release 1 and Google’s Android ‘M’ operating systems.

The Hotspot 2.0 OSU is a built-in feature of the GlobalReach AAA RADIUS and captive portal platform. The software allows service providers and enterprises to easily onboard all devices to secure Passpoint™ Hotspot 2.0 Wi-Fi services, ending manual Wi-Fi logins and other obstacles to fast, seamless, secure connection. The OSU easily creates Passpoint user profiles allowing automatic connection to any Hotspot 2.0 Wi-Fi network.

The OSU was used to support the recent WBA City Wi-Fi Roaming Project, and is also used by some of the largest city Wi-Fi networks including LinkNYC, San Francisco and San Jose.

Today’s announcement also further supports the WBA’s vision for widespread seamless Wi-Fi access. Its Hotspot 2.0 Release 2, improves the Release 1 experience, which was based on the IEEE 802.11u standard.

“Through the Next Generation Hotspot (NGH) trials, the WBA has been driving adoption of Hotspot 2.0 technologies in order to make next generation Wi-Fi seamless, secure and interoperable. Enlarging support for online signup services and Windows 10 devices is an important step in making the vision for next generation Wi-Fi a reality,” said Shrikant Shenwai, the CEO of the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA). “The WBA encourages the ecosystem (device vendors, infrastructure vendors and operators) to join WBA NGH trials.”

The OSU now provides real-time provisioning for devices and operating systems, including:

– Apple iOS iPhone / iPad (including Mac OSX)
– Samsung Galaxy (S4, S5, S6, Note 3, Note 4)
– Windows 10 (mobile & laptops)
– Android Marshmallow (M) and Nougat (7)
– Hotspot 2.0 Release 1 provisioning
– Hotspot 2.0 Release 2 provisioning

Chris Spencer, chief technology officer, GlobalReach said: “We’re proud to be the first company to reach the scale of OSU device support that we’ve announced today. By enabling full Hotspot 2.0 and Passpoint access, we believe that we’re improving the way that carriers work with Wi-Fi networks, and the service quality that they can give their customers and subscribers.”

About GlobalReach Technology:
GlobalReach Technology is the Wi-Fi AAA and captive portal platform purpose-built for the world’s largest service providers, who use it to manage multiple, complex wireless services for their business customers.

Its software and cloud-based platform powers some of the world’s most complex Wi-Fi services, delivering billions of authentications a year. These include San Francisco, San Jose, New York, London, Sydney, Mexico and throughout Europe.

Media contact:
Kate Cleevely
kate@globalreachtech.com
T. +44 07754 920043