Wi-Fi selects Wipro as pre-certification test lab

Bangalore, Aug 22: IT major Wipro Technologies has been selected by the Wi-Fi Alliance to become an authorised pre-certification test lab to pre-test products for the alliance members who seek Wi-Fi certification.

Texas-based Wi-Fi Alliance, entering India for the first time, was an industry trade association with nearly 300 member companies devoted to promoting the growth of wireless local area networks (WLAN).

Wipro had established a dedicated test lab with its city-based test facilities that would service Wi-Fi Alliance members around the world. This was only the third off shore facility of the alliance which had earlier signed tie-ups with University of New Hampshire and ITRI of Taiwan.

Wi-Fi Alliance Managing Director Frank Hanzlik said the alliance had so far certified about 3000 products produced by manufacturers of top brands across the globe in the WLAN ecosystem like computer and networking equipment manufacturers, semiconductor makers, systems integrators, software companies, telecom carriers, service providers and consumer products manufactures.

As many as 125 million units of Wi-Fi enabled products had so far been shipped, he added.

Mr Hanzlik said ''A large number of Wi-Fi Alliance members companies currently have large-scale operations in India. Many of our members rely on pre-certification testing as an important step in the quality assurance process. Hence Wipro's expertise and facility will be an excellent addition to our worldwide lab presence.'' Wipro Global IT Service Lines President Suresh Vaswani said the company had achieved revenue growth of 80 per cent in product testing at 57 million Dollars during the last quarter and the relationship with Wi-Fi Alliance would further enhance its WLAN testing capability.

Wi-Fi users connect to content on the Internet or a media server without wires at speeds of up to 54 Mbps. However, Wi-Fi was not just for PCs anymore as it had become an integral feature in new applications, cellular phones, digital cameras, entertainment systems and interactive video games. The next generation Wi-Fi was expected to quadruple in performance.

UNI