WAP on the attack - Technology Information

Telecommunications, March, 2001 by Scott Goldman

It's has had its critics, but the wireless application protocol is fighting back. The WAP Forum presents the arguments and, not surprisingly, does not pull any punches.

WAP standardisation for mobile devices is moving forward. Manufacturers of a variety of mobile devices are implementing, as expected, the latest WAP (wireless application protocol) version -- WAP 1.2 -- at a faster pace than previous versions. What's more, a growing number of handsets and devices -- such as pagers, personal digital assistants and notebook computers -- have been 'WAP-certified'. At the latest count, more than 20 handsets/devices from seven different manufacturers are WAP-certified (for further details, look up wwwopengroup.org/wap/cert/register:html) which confirms the trend towards widespread interoperability. This is the course set by the WAP Forum, the vendor-neutral group with over 600 members spanning the wireless industry and the world.

Four years ago the WAP Forum, founded by Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia and Phone.com, took up the challenge of delivering internet-based content to a variety of wireless devices, including mobile phones, pagers, personal digital assistants and notebook computers. They foresaw the classic catch: without the information-savvy customers' desire for stock quotes, sports scores, street maps or movie times, there's no demand for devices that can access internet content wirelessly; and without the devices to access that content, there's no means to receive the valuable data when on the move.

Solving this dilemma requires a standard non-proprietary wireless communications protocol so that the devices, infrastructure, applications and browsers can all 'interoperate' with each other, assuring that the user has a good, con sistent experience regardless of which service or hardware they use.

Along with consumers, wireless industry players need to be assured their services and technologies work together and around the world before they make huge investments in the exciting mobile internet future. Thus, the WAP technical specifications were agreed upon by the international WAP Forum organisation.

Today's WAP 1.2, following versions 1.0 and 1.1, greatly improves interoperability and moves the industry toward the next generation of WAP (specifications for which are scheduled to be presented in June this year while products are expected in the months thereafter). Importantly, all WAP versions will retain backward capability with existing WAPapproved products and services, thereby protecting current investments.

Interoperability and security

Designed to be vendor-neutral and network independent, WAP specifications and WAP interoperability go beyond bearer and device independence to ensure that each WAP-compatible component will communicate with all other components by using the standard methods and protocols defined in the specification. Any component built to be compliant with the WAP specification and tested as being 'W@P Certified' is guaranteed to work with any other WAP-certified component (although only with WAP-certified components, as opposed to those simply labelled 'WAP'.)

Service providers, for instance, can choose equipment and software from multiple WAP-compliant vendors, selecting each piece of the solution that is appropriate for the provider's needs. Operators need not worry about their choice of air interface technology because WAP is platform-agnostic, functioning with equal ease on GSM, GPRS, TDMA or CDMA networks.

In contrast to commercial software vendors, who wait to bundle improvements together before releasing new versions, the WAP Forum posts the latest iteration of the specification as it's approved. Each June and December all the interim additions are combined into a Conformance Release that rolls up all of the specifications into one package, creating a regular benchmark for manufacturers and vendors to reference when seeking compliance and interoperability with each other.

To be declared as WAP certified, industry suppliers submit their devices, sites or gateways to one of two currently sanctioned third-party firms -- The Open Group (TOG) (www.opengroup.org) or the National Computing Centre (NCC) Group (www.nccglobal.com). These independent facilities then test the product across components from other segments of the WAP chain. Gateways are tested against various handsets and browsers, while browsers are tested against various gateways, handsets, and various WAP-readable applications and the like. Pooling all these WAP-enabled products as a reference benchmark is key. Testing one product against a pool of products yields a statistically valid assurance of interoperability -- and assures WAP devices and systems as the wireless internet standard for the future.

The WAP protocol is constructed and designed to run on top of the internet protocol (IP) and existing digital data networking standards. By aligning its technology closely with the IP and the web, WAP is designed both to meet the needs of the largest number of users and to benefit services providers, software developers and device manufacturers while still allowing for differentiation between various devices.